Gaza Genocide · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
Benjamin Netanyahu Tells UN Gaza Genocide Claims Are The Biggest Lie Of The Century
Netanyahu told the UN genocide accusations against Israel are the biggest lie of the century. Delegates walked out and boos accompanied his UN General Assembly address.
Whether Netanyahu's claim of hypocrisy toward walkouts is highlighted.
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One outlet foregrounds procedural chaos, another foregrounds Netanyahu’s counter-accusation.
Netanyahu rejects genocide claim
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly that accusations of Israeli genocide in Gaza were “the biggest lie of the century” as he defended Israel’s right to wage war against Iran. Netanyahu said attacking Iran “was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” and he denounced as “moral cowards” the delegates who walked out when he took the podium.
General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman repeatedly called for “order in the hall” as cheers, boos, and mass walkouts erupted during Netanyahu’s address. Netanyahu also asserted that “many of their leaders even thank us privately for taking out Iran’s nukes,” tying the walkouts to what he said were private reactions to Israel’s actions.
Abbas and Mamdani clash
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the assembly in prerecorded remarks from his office in Ramallah after the United States denied visas to him and other senior Palestinian officials for a second straight year.
Abbas said, “We will not leave our homeland. We will not accept displacement. And we will not allow anyone to decide our future on our behalf,” and he asked, “How long will some countries continue to remain silent about Israel, or continue supplying it with weapons that it uses against our people?”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani responded to Netanyahu’s UN speech by saying, “As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians,” according to local media reports.
Netanyahu directly addressed Mamdani during his remarks, telling him, “You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth.”
War backdrop and stakes
Netanyahu framed his UN appearance as a defense of Israel’s wars in Iran and Gaza, speaking amid the nearly seven-month U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and the nearly three-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Netanyahu said Israel has been fighting a “seven-front war” since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack, naming Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, and Palestinian militants in the West Bank.
The speech also came as the Gaza war’s toll was described in the same account, with “At least 73,922 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ensuing offensive,” according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Netanyahu used the UN moment to reject genocide accusations, calling them “the greatest lie of the century,” while the same account said the visit gave him a high-profile chance to defend Israel as criticism mounts over its conduct in Gaza and ahead of Israel’s upcoming election.