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Dozens of delegates walked out of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his address to the 81st session in New York.
The walkout came as Netanyahu defended Israel’s actions in the Middle East and criticised opponents of the country, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
According to Hindustan Times, the Palestinian Mission to the UN had encouraged delegates to leave the hall during Netanyahu’s address. Palestinian representatives were scheduled to speak later in the session.
As Netanyahu began speaking, several delegates were seen leaving their seats, while supporters of the Israeli prime minister in the hall cheered his remarks.
Netanyahu described those leaving as “phony human rights protesters” and questioned their response to Iran’s actions.
“Where were you when the Iranian tyrants butchered and maimed tens of thousands of unarmed Iranian civilians?” he asked.
He then told delegates who remained but disagreed with his position to leave the hall.
Images from the venue showed empty seats associated with delegations from several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Algeria, Iran, Malaysia, Montenegro and Kyrgyzstan.
Jordan, Libya, the Marshall Islands and Mauritius were also among countries whose seats were reported to have been empty during the speech.
However, Hindustan Times noted that the available images did not establish that entire national delegations had walked out, with some countries having at least one representative remaining in the hall.
The full list of countries whose delegates left during Netanyahu’s speech had not been officially confirmed at the time of the report.
Netanyahu also used his address to criticise Mamdani, who has publicly opposed Israel’s military actions in Gaza and its policies in the West Bank.
Shortly before the speech, Mamdani released a video showing him planting an olive tree, a symbol associated with Palestinian culture, at Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the New York City mayor.
The video also showed Mamdani having dinner with a Palestinian family.
Addressing the mayor directly, Netanyahu said Mamdani had attempted to prevent him from attending the UN General Assembly and accused him of trying to silence him.
“Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me, you can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu said.
He rejected allegations that Israel had committed genocide, declaring: “Israel didn’t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide.”
Netanyahu further accused Mamdani and others of spreading what he described as “lies” about Jews and Israel, saying such claims had consequences.
The walkout added a visible moment of confrontation to Netanyahu’s appearance at the UN, amid continuing international disagreements over Israel’s military operations and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
