Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a strong defense of Israel’s regional actions at the United Nations on Thursday, seeking to push back against mounting global isolation ahead of elections he risks losing, even as dozens of delegates streamed out.
You tried. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth.
Netanyahu’s remarks evoked sharp reactions from both Qatar and Turkey, which said that the Israeli Prime Minister’s words cannot “make his massacres, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the proceedings before international law invisible”. Launching a strong attack on Mamdani, Netanyahu said: “You tried to stop me from coming here. Mamdani had campaigned for office on a promise to have Netanyahu arrested for alleged war crimes should he visit the largest US city, even though he later said he lacked the legal authority to do so. Earlier this week, he had described Netanyahu as “the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians”.
Qatar categorically rejected Netanyahu’s allegation. You tried. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me.
In a post on X, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said: “For this ongoing escalatory rhetoric against Qatar is nothing more than an attempt to divert attention from the violations committed by his government in the occupied Palestinian territories and their humanitarian repercussions. “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s use of the UN General Assembly podium to level “baseless accusations” against Turkiye and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was incompatible with the “ideals of peace, law and dialogue” represented by the UN,” Duran said. You can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu said of Mamdani.
Earlier reporting noted: “You tried to stop me from coming here. Earlier reporting noted: Dozens of delegates at the United Nations walked out of the hall when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his speech to the General Assembly meeting of world leaders on Thursday. Earlier reporting noted: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mounted a forceful defense of Israel’s actions in the region at the UN on Thursday, seeking to counter growing international isolation ahead of elections he could lose, as dozens of delegates streamed out.
“They talk to me. They tell me, ‘This isn’t the city we remember. It changed so quickly’. You praise criminals convicted of supporting Hamas. You invited to your home a Palestinian journalist who filmed Hamas terrorists beating and torturing Israeli hostages, and later admitted that he refused to publish the videos in order to protect, you guessed it, the terrorists,” he alleged. “As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitise his genocide of Palestinians.
You count as friends people like Hasan Piker, who said America deserved 9/11.
Netanyahu alleged that “many Jews no longer feel safe” ever since Mamdani assumed office. Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he said in a statement.
