UN delegates walk out as Netanyahu attacks Israel's critics

Scores of UN delegates have once again walked out on Benjamin Netanyahu as he prepared to give a table-thumping speech in which he lavished praise on US President Donald Trump and attacked Israel's critics.

The Israeli prime minister used the address to decry accusations of genocide — from a UN-backed inquiry, human rights groups, genocide scholars and world leaders at this week's UN summit — as the "greatest lie of the century".

He took particular aim at New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has described Mr Netanyahu as the "architect of a horrific genocide", and in the past suggested he might order New York Police to arrest him. Mr Netanyahu is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

"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," Mr Netanyahu said.

He faced a similar walkout at the UN's annual world leaders summit last year. This year's speech came as he prepares for upcoming elections in Israel while facing increasing isolation from the international community.

Ongoing violence in Gaza and escalating Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have been condemned by speaker after speaker at the summit. European leaders recently sanctioned Israeli settlements after a sharp rise in settler violence in the West Bank.

Mr Netanyahu accused those leaders of "choosing to succumb to the antisemitic mobs". "Many in the free world are afraid to defend freedom," he said.

'We'd all be dead'

While Israel retains strong support from the US, which continues to provide funds and weapons, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Trump have had a string of disagreements since launching joint attacks on Iran in February.

But Mr Netanyahu said Israel had "no greater partner than President Trump" in its "battle against the barbarians". It was an easy decision to go to war with Iran, he said, because "if we hadn't done it, we'd all be dead".

In his speech, Mr Netanyahu predicted the Iranian population would eventually topple the regime, despite no evidence of any coming uprising in the seven months since the start of the war.

"It's only a matter of time that in Iran, something incredible will happen," he said.

"The power of the people will overcome the people in power."

Mr Netanyahu delivered his speech just a few hours after a video address from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was played to the assembly.

Mr Abbas, who was denied a US visa to attend the summit, asked the international community to continue working towards a two-state solution, and accused Israel of conducting a "malicious colonial scheme" to kill its prospects of success.