Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage at the United Nations on Thursday, September 24, in NYC but approximately 70 delegates decided they had somewhere else to be.
As Netanyahu prepared to address the 81st United Nations General Assembly, the anti- Israel and antisemitic representatives from several countries got up and walked out in protest.
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Netanyahu didn’t exactly beg them to stay.
“If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t yet left this hall – please do so now,” he told the remaining delegates. “Thank you very much.”
Then he got down to business.
Netanyahu defended Israel’s military campaign against Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, blasted accusations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, and accused Qatar and Turkey of spreading antisemitic propaganda. He also argued that Israel’s military actions against Iran have protected some of the same countries whose representatives walked out.
Later, Netanyahu returned to the departing delegates, asking where the protesters were when Iran killed its own civilians and Christians faced persecution in the Middle East. He called such critics “phony human rights protesters.”
The walkout may have been intended as a rebuke to Netanyahu. Instead, it handed him a good opening line – and he made sure everyone in the world heard it.