African Nations Lead Walkout as Netanyahu Addresses UN

Dozens of African and other delegations staged a mass protest at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, walking out or remaining absent as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium, leaving large sections of the hall empty in a visible rebuke of Israel’s military campaigns.

The coordinated departure, encouraged by a call from the Palestinian Mission to the UN for member states to leave collectively once Netanyahu was announced, underscored deepening international divisions over the war in Gaza and related regional conflicts. Diplomats from across Africa, the Arab world, Asia, Latin America and parts of Europe rose and filed out within moments of the Israeli leader approaching the rostrum, some amid boos, while supporters in the chamber and gallery applauded and chanted.

African countries prominently featured in reports of those who walked out or whose seats stood vacant included South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Sudan, Senegal, Somalia, Eritrea, Botswana, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Angola, Chad, Liberia, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania, Eswatini, Lesotho, Uganda and others. The Palestinian delegation joined the exit.

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Israeli officials later tallied 77 countries whose delegations were either absent from the hall or left at the start of the address. That figure encompasses both those who physically walked out in protest and those who did not attend at all; the United Nations itself keeps no official record of such departures. Independent reviews of footage put the number of participating or empty-seat delegations at nearly 70.

Netanyahu confronted the exodus directly. “If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t yet left this hall, please do so now,” he said, later describing the departing envoys as “phony human rights protesters.” He defended Israel’s actions in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, rejected genocide accusations as “the biggest lie of the century,” and argued that in defending itself Israel was also protecting many of the nations whose representatives had just departed. He claimed some of their leaders had privately thanked Israel for strikes on Iran’s nuclear programme.

The walkout left rows of seats empty as Netanyahu continued his roughly 40-minute speech. Countries that remained represented included the United States, Germany, Argentina, Hungary and others; several Western European nations, among them the United Kingdom, France and Ireland, kept at least one diplomat in the chamber. The scene highlighted the diplomatic isolation Israel faces amid the prolonged Gaza conflict and broader Middle East tensions, even as Netanyahu used the platform to project resolve ahead of Israel’s October elections.

Outside the UN headquarters, protests also gathered, reflecting the polarised global response to the Israeli leader’s appearance at the 81st General Assembly.