Dozens of delegations walked out of the United Nations General Assembly hall in New York as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the podium to deliver his address.
The walkout began immediately after Netanyahu stepped onto the stage, with supporters in the gallery giving him a standing ovation and chanting “Am Yisrael Chai” .
As several delegations began leaving the floor, the presiding officer called for order before Netanyahu began his speech on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister described those who walked out as “moral cowards.”
In his opening remarks, Netanyahu said he had “vowed to prevent Iran’s murderous dictatorship from developing atomic bombs, nuclear weapons aimed at destroying Israel, nuclear weapons that could threaten the entire world.”
“That’s exactly what we did … Devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard. It was very hard to do. But for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as prime minister, because if we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead,” he said.
Iran has repeatedly denied seeking nuclear weapons. However, the IAEA’s ability to verify Iran’s nuclear activities has been significantly restricted following attacks on its nuclear facilities and the suspension of some verification activities, making the user-supplied claim that the agency had found “no evidence” of a nuclear weapon too broad to state without qualification.
Netanyahu also addressed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa directly, saying he “should know” that the Jewish people had been in the Golan Heights since the “days of Moses.”
His remarks came after al-Sharaa addressed the General Assembly on Tuesday and called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territory.
Turning to criticism of Israel, Netanyahu said countries such as France and the United Kingdom had accused Israel of “colonialism”, arguing that those countries had “invented the term”.
He also repeated claims made by US President Donald Trump, saying the United States and Israel had “crushed” Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities.
“With our great American friends, we crushed Iran’s army, navy, air force, and nuclear facilities,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu further said Israel was fighting a “seven-front war” against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran, as well as groups in Iraq, Syria and Palestine.
As he described Israel’s military operations, saying the country had “hammered Hamas” and “pummelled Hezbollah”, Netanyahu pulled out a pager and asked the audience, “Do you remember these?”
“Certainly Hezbollah remembers them,” he added, drawing applause.
The reference was to Israel’s 2024 operation in Lebanon in which thousands of pagers exploded almost simultaneously, killing nine people and injuring about 3,000 others.