Israel's Netanyahu addresses U.N. as many leaders walk out

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant address to the United Nations General Assembly Thursday, urging "moral cowards" still in the hall to leave as numerous diplomats walked out amid criticism of Israel's campaigns in Gaza and the West Bank. His visit was unusually brief, timed so he could return home before Sukkot begins Friday evening, and he skipped his customary talks with American officials for meetings with several South American and European leaders instead. Invoking the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, he said Israel "rose and fought like lions" and credited President Trump's "bold leadership" in dismantling Iran's military and nuclear facilities, according to CBS News · Fox News.

Roughly 30 minutes into the speech, Netanyahu turned on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had called him a "war criminal," accusing him of antisemitism and insisting Israel "prevented genocide" rather than committing it. Mamdani had earlier acknowledged he could not enforce an International Criminal Court warrant against Netanyahu but urged federal authorities to detain him. Thursday's protests in New York led to the arrest of nearly two dozen demonstrators, among them Mamdani ally and House Democratic nominee Darializa Avila Chevalier.

Netanyahu spoke after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham condemned the scale of Israel's military campaign as unjustified, even while acknowledging Hamas's October 7 attack as horrific, and after French President Emmanuel Macron accused Israel of daily violations in the West Bank. Netanyahu dismissed Macron's comments as a "grotesque absurdity," citing the recent killing of French national Netanel Shukrun, which he attributed to Hamas.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CBS News · Fox News’s reporting. Read the full story at CBS News · Fox News →