Isolating Israel: The West's brake on West Bank colonization and Gaza's destruction

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks as delegations leave the United Nations General Assembly hall in New York, US, on September 24, 2026. ALEXI J. ROSENFELD/AFP Benjamin Netanyahu gave a brief smile, as if to underscore his indifference. As the Israeli prime minister denounced, on Thursday, September 24, before the United Nations General Assembly, the "hypocrites" and the "moral cowards" who condemn him publicly but – he claimed – support him in secret, diplomats from around the world walked out solely because of his presence. Some directed boos at him. During his whirlwind trip to New York, Netanyahu did not meet with his longtime ally, Donald Trump, who was too busy hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping, nor with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, nor any representative of the US administration. France did allow the Israeli leader's plane to fly over its territory on his way to the United States, despite the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity. But two days earlier, in his speech at the UN, French President Emmanuel Macron had condemned a "spectacle that shames us all," referring to Gaza, the Palestinian territory that has been gradually annihilated by the Israeli army. He also denounced, like many of his counterparts, the accelerating annexation in the occupied West Bank. You have 86.33% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.