Tension erupted at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday when dozens of delegates left the chamber as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began speaking.
The walkout unfolded almost immediately after Netanyahu arrived at the podium in New York.
The Palestinian Mission to the UN had earlier called on delegations to leave the hall while the Israeli leader delivered his address.
As representatives filed out, Netanyahu appeared to respond directly to them.
“If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left the hall, please do so now,” he said.
With the chamber partly emptied, Netanyahu proceeded to defend Israel’s military campaign against Iran, particularly the strikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.
He acknowledged the difficulty of carrying out the operation but said he had little hesitation about ordering it.
“Devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard. It was very hard to do,” Netanyahu said.
He maintained that Israel had acted because of what he described as the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear programme.
“Because if we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead,” he added.
Netanyahu also sought to frame the strikes as beneficial beyond Israel’s borders.
According to the prime minister, Israel was protecting countries whose representatives had just walked out of the General Assembly.
“In defending itself, Israel is also defending many of the countries whose delegates just left this hall,” he said.
He further claimed that some foreign leaders had privately expressed appreciation for Israel’s actions against Iran’s nuclear programme.
Netanyahu accused Israel’s critics of what he called “mind-blowing hypocrisy”, arguing that the public condemnation did not reflect what some governments allegedly communicated privately.
The Israeli prime minister then shifted his speech toward historical events that he said shaped Israel’s approach to security.
He recalled the 1967 Six-Day War and a conversation with his brother before the conflict. Netanyahu said his brother believed Israel would win because the country had no other option.
He also spoke about the 1976 Entebbe hostage rescue in Uganda, recounting how Israeli forces freed 103 Jewish hostages taken during the hijacking of an Air France flight.
Netanyahu highlighted the role of his brother, Yoni Netanyahu, who commanded the rescue operation and died during the mission.
The dramatic scene in the General Assembly came days after another delegation walkout.
During US President Donald Trump’s address on Tuesday, Iran’s delegation left the chamber after Trump threatened to “annihilate” Iran if Tehran failed to reach a deal with Washington. Cuba’s delegation also walked out later during the speech.
Netanyahu’s appearance at the UN comes amid the continuing US-Israel conflict with Iran and growing international scrutiny of the military campaign.
