Delegates staged a walkout at the United Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA) on Friday as Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister,rejected the prospect of Palestinian statehood in an address that drew boos andinterruptions. The unusual protest came as Netanyahu took the podium,prompting a UN official to call for calm before he continued. The Israeli leader went on to denounce recent recognitionsof Palestine by some countries as “shameful, sheer madness and insane”, warningthey would embolden extremists worldwide. Netanyahu compared the push for Palestinian statehood afterHamas’s October 7 assault to offering al Qaeda a state near New York City afterthe September 11 attacks. “Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism againstJews and against innocent people everywhere. It will be a mark of shame on allof you,” he said. “What you’re doing is giving the ultimate reward tointolerant fanatics who perpetrated and supported the Sabbath massacre. ”Giving the Palestinians a state one mile from Jerusalemafter October 7 is like giving al Qaeda a state one mile from New York Cityafter September 11.” Netanyahu said Israel would not allow nations to “shove aterror state” down their throat. “We will not commit national suicide because you don’t havethe guts to face down a hostile media and antisemitic mobs demanding Israel’sblood,” he added. The Israeli prime minister slammed international criticismof Israel’s war in Gaza and accused world leaders of caving into “biased media,radical Islamist constituencies and anti-semitic mobs”. Hamas said the mass walkout of delegations beforeNetanyahu’s speech showed Israel’s “isolation” as a result of the Gaza war.
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