Netanyahu defends military action, rips Mamdani, in fiery UN speech

United Nations Headquarters in New York. (Steve Cadman, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

(The Center Square) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his military action in Gaza in a defiant speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, and attacked New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, accusing him of antisemitism and inciting violence against Jews.

Netanyahu, who has been accused of war crimes by an international court, used the speech to revisit Hamas’ attacks on Israel in October 2023 that killed 1,200 people and sparked the fighting.

"The Hamas terrorists committed the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust," he said in remarks. "They went house to house shooting Israeli civilians point blank. They did so with fiendish glee. With sadistic joy they live-streamed as they murdered.

"On that darkest of days, our enemies expected us to collapse," he said. "Well, we didn’t collapse. Instead, we rose and fought like lions."

Netanyahu also defended the ongoing war on Iran, and praised President Donald Trump for his "bold leadership" and for joining Israel in the conflict.

"With our great American friends, we crushed Iran's army, navy, air force and nuclear facilities," he said.

The Israeli leader delivered the speech to rows of empty seats after representatives for Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Authority, and other delegates walked out of the chambers.

Outside the building, protesters called for Netanyahu's arrest. Several people, including New York City council members and Democratic state lawmakers, were arrested during the demonstrations, the NYPD said.

“If there are any more moral cowards who haven’t left the hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu said before getting his address.

He ripped into Mamdani, blasting the young Muslim mayor as "antisemitic" and calling him out for claiming that Israeli military actions in Gaza and the West Bank equate to a "genocide" of Palestinian civilians.

“To all those spreading lies about my country and its brave soldiers, whether they sit in this hall, or in the antisemitic office of the mayor of New York, I say this: Shame on you," he said. "Shame on you for distorting the facts. Shame on you for inverting the victim and aggressor. Shame on you for spitting in the face of truth.”

"Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York," Netanyahu added.

In response, Mamdani accused Netanyahu of using his U.N. speech "to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians."

“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,” the mayor said in a statement.

Mamdani has been a vocal critic of Netanyahu and the Israeli government. He had called for the Israeli leader to be arrested when he arrived in New York, but later walked back those threats.

The International Criminal Court, a permanent international tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands, issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest in 2024 for alleged war crimes against humanity over his government's military actions in the Gaza Strip and other Palestinian territories in response to the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack that killed more than 1,200 Israelis.

But Israel does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction and has called for the war crime charges to be dismissed. The U.S. government also doesn't recognize the court's jurisdiction.

Mamdani didn't participate in the protests outside of the U.N. meeting, but shortly before the speech began, he posted a video on social media showing him planting an olive tree at Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence, and having dinner with several Palestinian families.

"May peace be our future,” Mamdani wrote in a caption.