Updated

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly on September 24, delivering a roughly 40-minute, campaign-style speech defending Israel's conduct in Gaza, denouncing the 'genocide' allegation as the 'lie of the century,' and attacking Iran, Qatar, Turkey, France's Macron and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whom he accused of being sympathetic to Hamas. Dozens of delegates walked out before he began speaking, leaving him addressing a near-empty hall; he called the departing envoys 'moral cowards.' Netanyahu downplayed settler violence in the West Bank, blaming 'juvenile delinquents,' and did not mention Saudi Arabia or the Abraham Accords. The speech triggered wide reaction: Mamdani accused Netanyahu of trying to 'sanitize his genocide,' Hamas called the address 'rife with lies,' and Qatar pushed back on claims about its mediation role. Outside the UN, more than 100 protesters — including celebrities Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder — were arrested amid demonstrations that included an effigy of Netanyahu in a noose, while separate pro-Israel rallies also gathered. France defended allowing Netanyahu's plane, despite his ICC arrest warrant, to overfly its territory, and commentators noted the contrasting international treatment of Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the UN.