We're going to win: Netanyahu defies mass UN walkout, rejects 'Genocide charge'
New York, Sep 25 (UNI): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defiantly defended Israel's wars in Gaza, Iran and across the region at the UN General Assembly, rejecting accusations of genocide and attacking international critics as dozens of diplomats walked out of the hall when he took the podium.
Netanyahu rejected accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, calling it instead "the opposite of genocide", as diplomats streamed towards the exits in a coordinated walkout organised in solidarity with the Palestinian delegation.
Rather than pause, Netanyahu challenged those still seated: "If there are any other moral cowards who haven't left the hall, please do so now."
"We're going to win. We have no other choice," Netanyahu said, invoking his late brother Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed in the 1976 Entebbe hostage rescue operation.
His speech offered little new on Israel's policy towards the war in Gaza, violence by settlers in the occupied West Bank or its plans for other regional conflicts, including its joint war with the United States against Iran.
Netanyahu also sharply rejected allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, declaring that the war "is not genocide - it's the opposite of genocide".
"So, to all those spreading these lies about my country and about our brave soldiers, whether they sit in this hall or in the office of the antisemitic mayor of New York, I say this: shame on you!" he said attacking York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Israel has consistently denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide, saying its military campaign is justified as self-defence. The Israeli offensive began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 73,920 people have been killed during Israel's military campaign.
Netanyahu also attacked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling him a "tyrant" who "hosts Hamas terrorists". Turkey's presidency communications director Burhanettin Duran accused Netanyahu of making "baseless accusations" and said they were incompatible with the UN's "ideals of peace, law and dialogue".
He also criticised Britain and France over accusations of colonialism.
"They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism - some colonialism. And who's accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God's sake, they invented the term," Netanyahu said.
As protests erupted on the streets of New York City, Netanyahu took aim at critics of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the international media, left-wing commentator Hasan Piker and Mamdani in an address that doubled as a stump speech aimed at energising his right-wing base ahead of the elections.
He also attacked al-Sharaa, saying: "You should know the Jews have been on the Golan Heights since the days of Moses. You can read it in the Bible."
Netanyahu said Israel is fighting a war on seven fronts: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, militias in Iraq, militias in Syria and Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria.
"They all ganged up on us to wipe us off the face of the Earth. They failed," he said.
The speech came hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the assembly by video link from Ramallah, having been denied a US entry visa for the second consecutive year. Abbas said Israeli policy, including settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, threatened "the very life and existence of the Palestinian people on their homeland", and accused Israel of waging "a genocidal war" in Gaza.
"Do not allow another Nakba and further massacres like those of 1948 to continue taking place," Abbas told world leaders.
Netanyahu, who faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over alleged war crimes, used his platform to flatly deny that Israel's campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide, telling delegates it is "the opposite of genocide".
He defended the joint US-Israeli air strikes on Iran launched in February, framing the decision in stark terms: "Devastating Iran's nuclear facilities was … very hard to do, but 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 predicted the fall of Iran's government was "only a matter of time" and that Iranians "will be free".
He thanked US President Donald Trump for what he called "bold leadership" in the Iran operation, saying the two countries had acted "to save civilisation".
The address came as Netanyahu faces a critical election in Israel next month and growing international criticism of his government. His once-dominant image as Israel's "Mr Security" has come under scrutiny, while his religious-right coalition is trailing in polls.
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