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ISLAMABAD: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced a mass walkout at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday as he delivered a combative defense of Israel&rsquo;s war in Gaza, laced with Islamophobic remarks, attacks on Western states recognizing Palestine, and warnings against Iran.&nbsp;Netanyahu addressed a largely empty hall after dozens of delegations walked out in protest over Israel&rsquo;s military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 65,500 people, mostly civilians, according to local health authorities. His speech was broadcast along the Israel-Gaza border via loudspeakers mounted on trucks as part of an official campaign to project his message inside Gaza.&nbsp;Netanyahu, who faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes, lashed out at France, Britain, Australia, and Canada for recognizing a Palestinian state. He compared the move to &ldquo;murdering Jews,&rdquo; accusing these governments of &ldquo;rewarding terrorism.&rdquo;&nbsp;He warned that establishing a Palestinian state near Jerusalem would be like &ldquo;giving Al Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11,&rdquo; dismissing the idea as &ldquo;sheer madness.&rdquo;&nbsp;Iran as &ldquo;terror axis&rdquo;Holding up a map labeled &ldquo;The Curse,&rdquo; Netanyahu described Iran as the hub of a &ldquo;terror axis&rdquo; threatening &ldquo;the peace of the entire world&rdquo; and Israel&rsquo;s existence. He cited Israel&rsquo;s strikes on Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas, and even took credit for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.<figure class="fr-media"> </figure><figure class="fr-media"> </figure><figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/57ed6d92-3fb6-4da1-a741-800c2b8d648b-netnayhua.png" alt="The Israeli PM started off his speech by pulling out a map with the words “The Curse” written on it. He declared Iran as a hub “terror axis” that threatens the “peace of entire world”, “the stability of [Middle East]”, and “the very existence of my countr" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">The Israeli PM started off his speech by pulling out a map with the words &ldquo;The Curse&rdquo; written on it. He declared Iran as a hub &ldquo;terror axis&rdquo; that threatens the &ldquo;peace of entire world&rdquo;, &ldquo;the stability of [Middle East]&rdquo;, and &ldquo;the very existence of my country, Israel&rdquo;.</figcaption></figure>Iran&rsquo;s foreign ministry denounced the speech as &ldquo;Islamophobic propaganda&rdquo; aimed at justifying &ldquo;genocide in Gaza&rdquo; and condemned what it called Israel&rsquo;s attempts to distract from its war crimes.&nbsp;Rejection of genocideResponding to genocide accusations, Netanyahu claimed Israel takes unprecedented measures to protect civilians, saying, &ldquo;For Israel, every civilian casualty is a tragedy. For Hamas, it is a victory.&rdquo;&nbsp;He accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields but rejected responsibility for Gaza&rsquo;s humanitarian catastrophe, which UN agencies warn has pushed the enclave to the brink of famine.&nbsp;Hamas responseHamas welcomed the mass boycott, saying it underscored Israel&rsquo;s deepening isolation. &ldquo;Boycotting Netanyahu&rsquo;s speech is one manifestation of Israel&rsquo;s isolation and the consequences of the war of extermination,&rdquo; said Taher al-Nunu, media adviser to Hamas political bureau.&nbsp;<figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/67780db5-3782-4c05-bfbc-39927ba3c9bf-6283817018288264.jpg" alt="6283817018288264.jpg" class="fr-fil fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">People walk out of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speech at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 26, 2025 in New York City. (AFP)</figcaption></figure>Netanyahu also dismissed the Palestinian Authority as &ldquo;corrupt to the core,&rdquo; accusing it of incentivizing violence against Israelis. He argued the PA was no different from Hamas in opposing Israel&rsquo;s existence.&nbsp;Hostages and US supportSpeaking directly to families of hostages still held in Gaza, Netanyahu vowed they would not be forgotten: &ldquo;We will not rest until we bring all of you home.&rdquo; He praised US President Donald Trump for supporting Israel and urged the UN Security Council to reinstate sanctions against Iran to prevent it from rebuilding its nuclear program.&nbsp;Rejection of ceasefireThe Israeli leader rejected international appeals for a ceasefire as &ldquo;empty posturing,&rdquo; insisting that many governments privately thank Israel for countering terrorism. He described Israel&rsquo;s post-October 7 response as &ldquo;one of the most stunning in history,&rdquo; though fighting continues.&nbsp;Despite ruling out Palestinian statehood, Netanyahu signaled openness to peace with Lebanon and Syria through direct talks. He suggested that defeating Hamas could clear the way for broader normalization with Arab and Muslim-majority states, but warned Western leaders against &ldquo;shoving a terror state down our throats.&rdquo;

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 26, 2025. REUTERSKylie Cooper

Asia

Middle East

Americas

Israeli PM opens his address in front of a largely empty hall, as several delegations staged a walkout in protest against the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s UNGA speech triggers walkout amid Gaza war protests

UNITED NATIONS: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he believed Ukraine could win back all territory lost to Russia, a dramatic shift from the US leader&rsquo;s repeated calls for Kyiv to make concessions to end the war.&nbsp;Trump posted on social media soon after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders.&nbsp;&ldquo;I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,&quot; Trump wrote. &quot;With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option.&rdquo;&nbsp;The strengthened support from Trump, if it sticks, is a huge win for Zelenskyy, who has urged the American president to keep up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war. It was a departure from Trump&#39;s previous suggestions that Ukraine would never be able to reclaim all the territory that Russia has occupied since seizing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.&nbsp;That had disheartened Zelenskyy, Europeans and Ukrainians and called into question the US commitment to UN principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. But now, Trump&rsquo;s view of the battlefield coincides more with Ukraine&rsquo;s, Zelenskyy said.&nbsp;&ldquo;Trump is a game changer by himself,&rdquo; Zelenskyy told reporters after their meeting.&nbsp;Trump needles Russia about war in UkraineTrump, going back to his 2024 campaign, insisted he would quickly end the war, but his peace efforts appear to have stalled following a diplomatic blitz last month, when he held a summit with Putin and a White House meeting with Zelenskyy and European allies.&nbsp;Trump has acknowledged, including in his UN speech to world leaders, that he thought a resolution to this conflict would be &ldquo;the easiest&rdquo; because he has had a good relationship with Putin. Trump said he is open to imposing more sanctions on Russia and urged Europe to join in.&nbsp;&ldquo;Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years, a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win,&rdquo; Trump wrote on social media. &ldquo;This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like &lsquo;a paper tiger.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;In his speech to the General Assembly, Trump said the war in Ukraine was making Russia &ldquo;look bad&rdquo; because it was &ldquo;supposed to be a quick little skirmish.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;It shows you what leadership is, what bad leadership can do to a country,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The only question now is how many lives will be needlessly lost on both sides.&rdquo;&nbsp;Before meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump said the &ldquo;biggest progress&rdquo; toward ending the conflict &ldquo;is that the Russian economy is terrible right now.&rdquo; Zelenskyy said he agreed with Trump&rsquo;s call for European nations to further halt imports of Russian oil and natural gas.&nbsp;&ldquo;We have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up,&rdquo; Trump told Zelenskyy, who replied that he had &ldquo;good news&rdquo; from the battlefield.&nbsp;How Trump&#39;s stance has shifted on UkraineBefore his Alaska summit with Putin last month, Trump repeated that any resolution to the war would require &ldquo;some land swapping.&quot;&nbsp;In talks with Zelenskyy and Europeans just afterward, Trump said Putin reiterated that he wants the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas, according to European officials. Days later, Zelensky and prominent European leaders came to the White House.&nbsp;Following those meetings, Trump announced he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn&rsquo;t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine.&nbsp;European leaders, as well as American lawmakers, including some Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia.&nbsp;&ldquo;In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs, which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly,&rdquo; Trump told the General Assembly.&nbsp;However, he repeated his calls for Europe to &ldquo;step it up&rdquo; and stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin&rsquo;s war machine.&nbsp;Push for sanctions and cutting off Russian oilEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said before meeting with Trump that Europe would be imposing more sanctions and tariffs on Russia and that the bloc would be further reducing its imports of Russian energy.&nbsp;Zelenskyy, speaking at a special UN Security Council session on Ukraine, also appealed for stronger US pressure on Russia.&nbsp;&ldquo;Moscow fears America and always pays attention to it,&rdquo; said Zelenskyy, who has had strained ties with Trump in previous sitdowns and has previously faced White House accusations that he was partly to blame for Russia&rsquo;s invasion in 2022.&nbsp;Russia denigrated the Security Council meeting as just the New York stop in the world tour of a &ldquo;former actor,&rdquo; a reference to Zelenskyy.&nbsp;&ldquo;There is no added value for the establishment of peace in Ukraine generated from today&rsquo;s meeting,&rdquo; said Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia&rsquo;s deputy ambassador to the UN. &quot;This will merely become yet another shameful episode in the market of hypocrisy.&rdquo;&nbsp;European leaders have supported Zelenskyy&rsquo;s diplomatic efforts, with some alarmed by the possibility that the war could spread beyond Ukraine as they are facing what they have called Russian provocations.&nbsp;&ldquo;I welcome the fact that the president of the United States believes in Ukraine&rsquo;s ability not only to hold the course&rdquo; but to prevail, French President Emmanuel Macron said.&nbsp;NATO allies will hold formal consultations at Estonia&rsquo;s request on Tuesday, after the Baltic country said three Russian fighter jets entered its airspace last week without authorization.&nbsp;Trump said he would back NATO countries that choose to shoot down intruding Russian planes but said direct US involvement would depend on the circumstances.&nbsp;New strikes in Ukraine as toll of war growsThe full-scale war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, is taking a heavy toll on Ukrainian civilians. Russia said it shot down three dozen Ukrainian drones heading toward Moscow, while Ukraine said Russian missiles, drones and bombs killed at least two civilians.&nbsp;The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also said this month that Ukrainian civilian casualties increased by 40% in the first eight months of this year compared with 2024, as Russia escalated its long-range missile and localized drone strikes.&nbsp;A UN Human Rights Office report released Tuesday described the dire situation of thousands of civilians detained by Russia in areas of Ukraine it has captured.&nbsp;&ldquo;Russian authorities have subjected Ukrainian civilian detainees in occupied territory to torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, in a widespread and systematic manner,&rdquo; the report said.

President Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UNGA 80

Europe

He posts on social media after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders.

Trump says Ukraine can win back all territory with NATO's help

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will lead Pakistan&rsquo;s delegation to the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, set to begin on September 22, the foreign office said on Sunday.&nbsp;Accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, along with several cabinet ministers and senior government officials, PM Sharif is scheduled to address the high-level segment of the gathering, which will bring together world leaders for discussions on pressing global issues.&nbsp;During his address, PM Sharif will highlight Pakistan&rsquo;s stance on the prolonged occupation and denial of self-determination in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the Palestinian territories. A key focus of his speech will be the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with a call for the international community to take urgent and decisive action.&nbsp;The prime minister will also emphasize Pakistan&rsquo;s perspectives on regional security, climate change, counterterrorism, Islamophobia, and the implementation of the United Nations&#39; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). <div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1969648323490681060&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=687b137dc7b5edf620adb31a7f59618ab6964437&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 899px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div>&nbsp;In addition to his address, Sharif is expected to participate in several high-level events on the sidelines of the UNGA, including meetings of the UN Security Council, the Global Development Initiative (GDI), and a special session on climate action.&nbsp;Sharif will also engage in a series of bilateral meetings with world leaders and senior UN officials, reaffirming Pakistan&rsquo;s commitment to the principles of the UN Charter, conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and sustainable development. Notably, Pakistan is currently serving as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.&nbsp;The foreign office emphasized that Sharif&#39;s participation at the UNGA will underscore Pakistan&rsquo;s continued commitment to multilateralism and its longstanding role in promoting international peace and development.&nbsp;Palestine, US ties, and Syria talks on agenda: ErdoganIn a similar vein, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced that he will raise the issue of Israel&rsquo;s actions in Gaza at the UNGA. He called for broader recognition of Palestine to accelerate efforts toward a two-state solution.&nbsp;Erdogan also noted that discussions with US President Donald Trump would focus on trade and defense cooperation. Additionally, he plans to meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during his visit.

Foreign Affairs

PM Sharif to attend high-level UNGA events, hold bilateral meetings, and discuss regional security, climate action, and development.

Articles tagged with "UNGA session"

Netanyahu’s UNGA speech triggers walkout amid Gaza war protests

Trump says Ukraine can win back all territory with NATO's help

Kashmir, Gaza on agenda as Pakistan PM set to participate at UN General Assembly

Netanyahu’s UNGA speech triggers walkout amid Gaza war protests