Netanyahu Uses U.N. Speech To Paint Israel As The Victim While Bragging Of Violence

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the U.N. General Assembly was one of contradictions — painting an increasingly isolated Israel as a victim under constant threat of annihilation, while bragging about the startling aggression Israel has committed against Palestinian, Iranian and Lebanese people.

“Tyrants the world over seek to threaten us. They seek to undermine our resolve with their campaign of lies,” the prime minister told world leaders. “But ultimately, as on the military battlefield, the Jewish people will prevail.”

Like previous speeches, Netanyahu defended Israel’s ongoing attacks in Gaza that human rights groups, U.N. experts and scholars have now all concluded amount to genocide. Despite last year’s ceasefire agreement, Palestinian families continue to be killed in airstrikes while Israel continues to block most humanitarian aid from entering the flattened enclave.

“Accusing Israel of genocide is the greatest lie of the century,” said Netanyahu, who has an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. “Israel didn’t commit genocide, Israel prevented genocide.”

Netanyahu also downplayed the skyrocketing settler violence in the West Bank that has led to sanctions by the U.K., France and Canada. He disparaged the countries for their actions and rejected their accusations of colonialism in the territory, which the International Court of Justice has ruled is being illegally occupied by Israeli settlers.

“What [media outlets] cover is a handful of young juvenile delinquents … who go or throw stones, who chop down olive trees — occasionally they lit some fires,” he said. U.N. experts have raised the alarm about the situation in the West Bank, while an Israeli human rights group published a lengthy report earlier this month laying out the systematic nature of violence against Palestinians in the territory by settlers, security forces and government officials alike.

In addition, Netanyahu bragged about a widely condemned coordinated attack on the Lebanese people that involved exploding pagers in 2024. Israel claimed the attack targeted Hezbollah, though the public attack also killed civilians — including children — and wounded thousands.

“Remember the beepers? Remember these things?” the prime minister told the assembly, holding up a pager. “Well I can tell you this: Hezbollah certainly remembers them.”

Netanyahu, who faces a tight election next month, has isolated Israel from much of the world thanks to his government’s aggression and lack of accountability. Some countries that previously took the stage at the General Assembly criticized Israel for its violence and expressed support for Palestinian human rights.

A massive group of attendees — what appeared to be dozens of delegations — emptied the hall ahead of Netanyahu’s speech, which occurred hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had to deliver remarks virtually due to being denied a visa by the U.S. The prime minister called them “moral cowards” before claiming Israel has defended those very states from a nuclear Iran.

In addition to the countries that oppose Israel’s violent tactics, Netanyahu also attacked the media and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — calling him an antisemite for criticizing Israel and opposing the leader’s visit to New York. Mamdani did not directly respond to Netanyahu’s callout, instead posting a video on social media of him planting an olive tree at Gracie Mansion with Palestinian families from Gaza.

During Netanyahu’s speech, hundreds of demonstrators sat outside the U.N. in protest, including Jewish New Yorkers and rabbis, elected officials and vocally anti-war celebrities. Several figures like actress Susan Sarandon, “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder, comedian Caleb Hearon and Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier were among those detained by police.

“As a Jew, as an American, and as a human it is my moral responsibility to stand against the genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli government,” Einbinder said in a statement. “I am proudly risking arrest today because I believe this moment calls on each and every one of us to speak out and demand the U.S. stop funding genocide.”

Netanyahu called them “phony protesters.”

“To the protesters outside, to the hypocritical delegates who left us all, I ask where were you when the Iranian tyrants butchered and maimed tens of thousands of unarmed Iranian civilians?” he said from the podium. “Did you organize mass rallies, hunger strikes? Did you protest outside the Iranian mission to the U.N.?”

Netanyahu thanked President Donald Trump for joining the war against Iran, a country that he said attacking was “one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make.” The two leaders have no meeting planned during this visit.