- Israeli PM Netanyahu addressed a sparsely attended UN General Assembly session
- He highlighted Israel’s ongoing military operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah
- Netanyahu condemned Iran’s nuclear ambitions and called its regime murderous
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pleaded Israel's case at the United Nations General Assembly before an audience of mostly empty seats amid increasing global isolation. During his speech, he brandished a pager while reminding the small gathering about Israel's September 2024 operation against Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.
Netanyahu said that "in the last three years," Israeli soldiers have "fought a war on seven fronts." "Do you know of any other country the size of New Jersey that can fight for three years on seven fronts?" he said.
The Israeli leader went on to use the global platform to attack everyone from the leaders of Iran to New York's first Muslim mayor Zohran Mamdani and partners Britain, France, and Turkey.
"They organised to erase us from the face of the Earth. Instead of collapsing, we delivered devastating blows to all of them with our great American friends and crushed the Iranian army and its nuclear facilities."
However, Netanyahu's takes of Israel's bloody might were met with jeers, with dozens of envoys from across the world booing and walking out on him in protest. He found support only from his own team, who stood and applauded, as the session's speaker shouted for order.
"If there are any other moral cowards who haven't left this hall, please do so now," Netanyahu told those turning their backs on him.
Netanyahu had especially harsh language on Iran, calling it a "murderous dictatorship." He said the war in which Israeli and US forces have attacked Iran for close to seven months had stopped Tehran from being able to develop nuclear weapons.
"I vowed to prevent Iran's murderous dictatorship from developing atomic bombs, nuclear weapons aimed at destroying Israel, nuclear weapons that could threaten the entire world," he said.
He said the fall of Iran's leadership, whose UN envoy displayed a portrait of dead Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani on their vacant desk, was not "far."
Despite the onslaught, Iran's government has retained control and continues to defy the United States by effectively blocking the Strait of Hormuz.
During his speech, Netanyahu held up a pager device like those that Israeli intelligence reportedly engineered with explosives before having them shipped to operatives of Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. They were later detonated, maiming hundreds of Hezbollah operatives but also civilian bystanders.
“You remember the beepers? Well, I can tell you this, Hezbollah certainly remembers them," he said.
He accused Turkey of backing Iran-backed Islamist group Hamas, going on to call the country's leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "tyrant."
Netanyahu also lashed out at New York Mayor Mamdani, calling him "antisemitic," and claiming that "since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe."
Netanyahu is only making a whirlwind stop in New York before rushing back to Israel, where the election campaign is in full swing. He is not scheduled to meet any top US leaders.
Netanyahu also attacked Britain and France for their past colonial empires during his turn at the lectern.
"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 sakes, they invented the term," he said.
Netanyahu already had poor relations with Macron, who led a push by Western nations at last year's UN General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state.
