The image that remains is that of a classroom that is slowly emptying. At the exact moment when Benjamin Netanyahu reaches the podium of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, dozens of delegates rise from their seats and leave the room. A silent gesture, which arrived right at the beginning of the Israeli Prime Minister’s speech, which transformed his speech before the 81st UN General Assembly into one of the most controversial moments of the diplomatic day.
At the moment, the countries that participated in the event are not yet officially known walkoutbut several international newspapers reported that among the seats left empty during Netanyahu’s speech were those of the delegations of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Algeria, Bangladesh, Sudan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Montenegro and Kyrgyzstan.
Delegations from Jordan, Libya, the Marshall Islands and Mauritius were also absent from their seats during the speech, although in some cases some representatives remained in the room. In any case, there were also delegates applauding and chanting “Am Yisrael Chai” (“the people of Israel live”) in support of Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Netanyahu’s speech
In front of the empty seats left by the delegations, Benjamin Netanyahu chose a line of harsh counterattack, defining those who were leaving the room “moral cowards” and inviting the other representatives to do the same:
If there are any other moral cowards who have not yet left this room, please do so now.
As was to be expected, in his speech, the Israeli prime minister dedicated ample space to defending Israel’s actions in the war in Gaza, rejecting accusations of genocide and maintaining that the country is rather fighting to protect its own population.
Israel did not commit genocide, Israel prevented a genocide, he said, accusing Hamas and its supporters of posing a threat to Israel.
The prime minister also defined the Israeli army as “the most moral army in the world” and spoke of a second battle fought on the terrain of communication:
For three years our brave soldiers valiantly fight a war on seven fronts. But there is an eighth front in this war: the war for truth. It plays out in the world’s media and, even more perniciously, on social media.
And he also accused several foreign countries of having spent billions to spread, in his opinion, false information against Israel. And, as if that wasn’t enough, he raised a pager to the sky, symbol of the attack that killed and mutilated dozens of alleged members of the Lebanese armed party Hezbollah.
Then he couldn’t help but name Zohran Mamdanimayor of New York, who in the previous days had defined him as a “war criminal” and had criticized Israeli actions in Gaza. Netanyahu accused him of anti-Semitism and said that criticism of Israel would contribute to a climate of insecurity for Jews.
Shame on you for spitting in the face of the truth, he said, addressing his accusers, while defending the conduct of the Israeli government and its military.
Mamdani, for his part, had accused Netanyahu of war crimes and supported the need to apply the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, a position that Netanyahu and his government reject.
At the end of his speech Netanyahu celebrated the “unshakable determination” of the Israeli people, presenting Israel as a nation that continues to fight for its future despite international pressure.
Outside the UN meanwhile…
While the diplomatic protest was taking place inside the UN headquarters, hundreds of people were demonstrating against the war in Gaza a few steps from the United Nations headquarters.
Among those arrested during the sit-in organized by Jewish Voice for Peacean anti-Zionist Jewish group, Susan Sarandon was also there. The Oscar-winning actress was stopped by New York police along with other demonstrators during a protest calling for an end to military support for Israel and a ceasefire.
Cynthia Nixon, an actress known for, was also arrested with her Sex and the Cityand Hannah Einbinder, protagonist of the series Hacks. Actor Elliot Page also participated in the protest. Protesters blocked a road near the UN headquarters demanding an end to military operations in Gaza. Police stopped dozens of people and ushered them onto police buses.
In short, this day at the UN returned two very different images but united by the same theme: dissent. Inside the General Assembly, the message came through absence: delegates who chose not to attend the Israeli prime minister’s speech. Outside the UN, however, the protest took place through the physical presence of citizens and public figures willing to be arrested to support their position.
Symbolic gestures which, of course, alone are not enough to change the course of a massacre, but can undoubtedly have the power to tell how deep the international fracture has become around the conflict in Gaza and Israel’s role in the region.
