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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed allegations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza as “the biggest lie of the century” during a defiant address to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, as scores of delegates walked out in protest.
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“Here's the simple truth. Israel didn't commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide,” Netanyahu said, calling the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “the most moral army in the world.” He pointed to Israel’s facilitation of food aid and polio vaccination campaigns in Gaza, saying “Israel did everything possible to get them out of harm's way.”
Israel faces allegations of genocide in a case brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice. The court has ordered Israel to take provisional measures under the Genocide Convention but has not ruled on whether Israel has committed genocide. The case remains pending.
In September 2025, an independent U.N. commission of inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide, and the International Association of Genocide Scholars said Israel’s policies and actions met the legal definition of the crime. Israel has rejected the findings.
Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of ‘spreading lies’
Netanyahu sharply criticized New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani during his speech, calling him “the antisemitic mayor of New York” and placing him among “all those spreading these lies about my country and about our brave soldiers.”
“Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York,” Netanyahu said. He reiterated his claims that the mayor supports Hamas and has “incit[ed] riots against New York Jews.” Mamdani has denied supporting Hamas. “Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me and you can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu said.
In response to Netanyahu’s remarks, Mamdani accused the Israeli leader of using his 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,” Mandani said in a statement.
Netanyahu’s remarks come amid heightened concern about antisemitism in New York, where anti-Jewish incidents accounted for 57% of all reported hate crimes in 2025, according to NYPD data. Mamdani has rejected accusations of antisemitism and proposed increasing the city’s hate-crime prevention budget from $3 million to $26 million. His administration has also maintained a dedicated Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.
The dispute stretches back to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. A longtime critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Mamdani has repeatedly condemned Netanyahu, calling him “a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people.” He also vowed to have Netanyahu arrested under an International Criminal Court warrant issued over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Mamdani later acknowledged that the city lacked the independent authority to execute the warrant and called on the federal government to arrest Netanyahu instead.
Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump, saying Israel has “no greater partner.” He pointed to the joint U.S.-Israeli operation that he said had destroyed much of Iran’s nuclear program after the two countries launched their war against Iran in February. He called attacking Iran “one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as Prime Minister.”
Netanyahu also accused Qatar of spending billions of dollars to finance universities and the Al Jazeera media network as part of an effort to “brainwash young minds to hate Israel, America and the West.” He also criticized the country for hosting Hamas leaders. Netanyahu went on to accuse Turkey of being a “super-spreader of antisemitic lies” and condemned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for also hosting Hamas leaders. Turkey and Qatar are yet to respond to the statement.
Outside the United Nations, several hundred protesters gathered with chants of "stop arming Israel, let Gaza live" and "stop arming Israel, let Iran live" ahead of Netanyahu’s speech.
Protesters opposing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war in Gaza block a street near the United Nations in New York City on Sept. 24, 2026. —Spencer Platt—Getty ImagesAbbas addresses UN by video after visa denied
In a prerecorded address shown at the U.N. General Assembly earlier Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that “the Palestinian people face one of the most dangerous times of its history.”
“How much longer will some states continue to remain silent on Israel or supply it with the weapons that it uses against our people?” Abbas said. He accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and a “genocidal war that has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
The U.S. denied Abbas and other Palestinian officials visas to attend the assembly in person for the second consecutive year, accusing the Palestinian Authority of “glorifying terrorism.” Abbas condemned what he called the “unlawful punitive measures” and called on the Trump administration to lift the restrictions on his delegation and on the U.N. to grant Palestine “full membership” in the international organization. He also called for the State of Palestine to be granted full U.N. membership.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel and saw about 250 others taken hostage.
Since the ceasefire was signed in October 2025, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed according to the ministry. In the absence of independent monitoring on the ground, the ministry is the primary source for casualty data relied upon by humanitarian groups, journalists, and international bodies. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants and cannot be independently verified by TIME. Data from the IDF suggests a Palestinian civilian death rate of 83%.
The U.N. in October estimated that Gaza required $70 billion to reverse the damage caused by two years of war to its infrastructure.
What other world leaders have said at the U.N.
The war in Gaza has been a major focus for world leaders addressing the U.N. in New York this week.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, whose nearly decade-long tenure leading the international body comes to an end at the start of next year, said during his address on Tuesday that Gaza has experienced “a scale of killing and destruction unlike anything I have witnessed in all my years as Secretary-General.” He added that Israel’s “violence, displacement and settlement expansion” raised the “specter of ethnic cleansing.”
Trump said the war in Gaza was over. He took credit for ending it, “saving untold thousands of lives,” and brokering the return of the remaining hostages held in Gaza. But key elements of the peace agreement Trump helped broker in October 2025—including Hamas’ disarmament, a long-term plan for governing Gaza, and the delivery of humanitarian aid—remain largely stalled.
Other world leaders called for greater international action over the continuing suffering in Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron asked “what is our credibility worth if we remain inactive on Gaza?” during his speech on Tuesday. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the same day: “We will not stand by as the horrific suffering continues to grow and the prospect of a two-state solution, the best hope for peace and stability for both nations, comes under attack.”
