Delegations leave UN plenary during Netanyahu’s speech

A large part of the diplomatic delegations participating in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, in New York, this Friday (27), left the plenary as soon as the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, entered the room to give his speech .

Images taken by news agencies and posted on social media show the United Nations plenary with several empty chairs after the prime minister was announced.

Netanyahu’s speech came as Israel continues to indiscriminately attack Lebanon’s civilian population, justifying seeking Hezbollah targets in the south of the country.

The international community fears the attacks could escalate into an all-out regional war. In his speech, Netanyahu said that his country “is winning” the war. “I have another message for this Assembly and for the world outside this hall: we are winning.”

“My country is at war, fighting for its life,” he said. “We must defend ourselves from these savage killers. Our enemies seek not only to destroy us, they seek to destroy our common civilization and return us to a dark age of tyranny and terror,” he added.

Israel has been bombing areas of Lebanon for a week, in a new page in the conflict in the Middle East that has left more than 700 people dead. The Israeli government, supported by the country’s far right, has threatened to continue bombings in Lebanon and expand the massacre in Gaza to the entire region.

In the speech, he accused Iran of having bombed Israel directly for the first time, with missiles launched on Thursday (26) directly from Iranian territory. And he said he is prepared for a war against the country. “If you attack us, we will attack you,” he said.