The Empty Seats Did Not Answer Netanyahu

Israel’s prime minister faced a walkout at the United Nations. He gave the speech anyway.

The delegates were already on their feet when Benjamin Netanyahu approached the UN podium on September 24. Some headed for the exits. Others stayed to jeer. Netanyahu waited through the noise, then invited any remaining “moral cowards” to leave, too.[1]

I admired that moment. He had come to defend Israel before an audience that included its fiercest critics. A walkout made a picture for the cameras. It did nothing to answer him.

Reports identified delegates from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Türkiye, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, Tunisia, Senegal, Pakistan, Sudan and Indonesia among those who walked out. Reporting also named Spain, South Africa, Kuwait, Morocco, Nigeria and Brazil as countries whose representatives did not attend the session. Those are different actions, and they should not be lumped together. Nor is there a verified, complete country-by-country roll of everyone who left.[2]

The delegates had every right to protest. People outside UN headquarters had that right, too. But I would ask them to listen to the part of the speech that began with two brothers in an orange grove.

Netanyahu recalled finding his older brother Yoni among Israeli troops mobilizing in 1967. He asked what would happen if war came. Yoni’s answer, as Netanyahu told it, was simple: “We’re going to win. We have no other choice.” Nine years later, Yoni was killed commanding the rescue at Entebbe.[1]

Netanyahu could have led with military statistics. Instead, he told the room where his sense of duty came from. Critics could reject his decisions as prime minister, but they should at least reckon with the history behind them. For Israel, a threat to its existence is never a debating exercise.

That is why I support Netanyahu’s insistence that Israel must be able to defend itself against Hamas and Iran. The October 7, 2023, massacre was an attack on people in their homes and communities. Netanyahu spoke about those victims and about the years of fighting that followed. He praised Israeli soldiers and described strikes against Iran’s military and nuclear facilities.[1] You can challenge his account of a campaign without asking Israelis to treat the threat as imaginary.

His speech was strongest when he refused the easy comfort of international approval. He accused delegates of condemning Israel publicly while gaining from its actions against Iran. That is his charge, and governments should be free to dispute it. They cannot do so by walking out before he makes it.

There are serious questions about civilian suffering in Gaza. Protesters are entitled to raise them, and governments have a duty to press Israel on how it conducts a war. Netanyahu’s claims about Israeli warnings and aid deserve scrutiny.[1] I defend him because I believe his central case is right: Israel has the right to defeat forces that attack its civilians and openly seek its destruction. Defending that right also requires taking civilian lives seriously, wherever civilians live.

The protesters outside and the delegates inside could have stayed, heard the speech, and challenged every disputed claim afterward. That would have been a harder and more useful form of dissent. An empty chair cannot cross-examine a prime minister.  However, they were too narrow-minded to stay, listen and be educated.  They chose to be ignorant on the Issue.

Netanyahu ended with the endurance of the Jewish people. He talked about an ancient language still spoken, a people still living in its ancestral land, and a state with the means to protect them.[1] I found that ending deeply moving. It explained why he had stood close to the microphone through the boos, and why supporters of Israel watched even as the chamber emptied.

I praise his speech because he faced a hostile room and said plainly what he believed his country needed the world to hear. Delegations can walk out of the hall. They cannot make Israel disappear by refusing to listen.  No Israel, No Peace!

Endnotes

1. United Nations, “General Debate, 81st Session” (official proceedings and recordings): https://gadebate.un.org/en/81/
2. SBS News, “Middle Eastern, Arab Nations Stage Mass Walkout During Netanyahu’s UN Speech”: https://news.sbs.co.kr/english/article.do?news_id=N1008769565  
3. Politics Today, “Netanyahu Addresses Nearly Empty UN General Assembly as Dozens of Delegations Walk Out in Protest”: https://politicstoday.org/netanyahu-addresses-nearly-empty-un-general-assembly-as-dozens-of-delegations-walk-out-in-protest/
4. The Jakarta Post / AFP, “Israel’s Netanyahu Denounces Enemies, Allies in Fiery UN Speech”: https://www.thejakartapost.com/world/2026/09/25/israels-netanyahu-denounces-enemies-allies-in-fiery-un-speech

Carolyn Spencer is a contributing writer for Direct Line News

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Carolyn Spencer

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