Netanyahu faces UN walkout and US snub amid Gaza scrutiny

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the UN General Assembly was met with a walkout by 77 nations, including some European states. During his speech, Netanyahu called world leaders 'moral cowards' and 'hypocrites'. Israeli analyst Jonathan Ofir stated Netanyahu used a biblical phrase in Hebrew as a dog-whistle to call for genocide to the bitter end.

Diplomatic snub in Washington

Netanyahu’s visit to the United States lasted just eight hours and yielded no high-level meetings, breaking a longstanding precedent. He did not receive an invitation to address the US Congress. More strikingly, he was denied a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House and could not secure a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Michael Oren, Israel’s former Ambassador to Washington, said: "I don’t recall a time when the prime minister came to the United States and didn’t meet with the president."

Domestic pressure and electoral stakes

Netanyahu returns to Israel less than a month away from a hotly contested general election. His failures to prevent Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023 are under intense scrutiny. Egyptian and Gulf leaders had warned him of a major event, an 'earthquake', from Gaza in the days and weeks before the attack, but he failed to act. Netanyahu scheduled his UN speech for Israeli prime time to attract the largest domestic audience, aiming to show voters he remains a force on the international stage. He has served as prime minister for a record near-two decades, longer than David Ben Gurion, and has whipped up Israeli society into an ever greater ultra-nationalist, genocidal fervour, according to the brief.

Western leaders are now seeking to nudge Netanyahu out of office by portraying him as a spent force. This antipathy is not based on an ethical assessment of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the West Bank, south Lebanon, or the war on Iran. Washington and its European client states have supplied munitions, intelligence, and diplomatic leverage to Israel for its actions. Netanyahu is now seen as a political liability even for Trump and is not facing reckoning only for the Iran war but also for Gaza destruction.

Shifting alliances and regional consequences

Western and Gulf states are reassessing ties with Israel as military failures and humanitarian toll reshape strategic calculations. The reality of Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the killing of many tens of thousands of Palestinian children has become harder to hide or rationalise. Netanyahu allegedly tried to persuade Trump to launch an unprovoked and illegal war on Iran against generals’ advice. That war did not succeed. Washington is now in an unwinnable war with Iran, clarifying Tehran’s power over the Strait of Hormuz.

Gulf client states have learned they are supremely vulnerable to retaliation from Tehran and Yemen, which now have power over the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab Strait. Washington has shown it cannot defend its Gulf allies despite military might. Trump, nosediving in polls, needs a scapegoat and views Netanyahu as the only suitable candidate. The promise of victory in Iran was meant to secure Trump’s legacy as remaking the Middle East and give the US unchallenged control over regional oil.

Symbolic resistance and cultural shift

From film festivals to football matches, global cultural and sporting spaces are increasingly aligning with Palestinian solidarity. The documentary NAZA, by Israeli film-makers on Gaza, won a 25-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. It documents how Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers engineered genocide in Gaza and is scheduled to be available to stream for free in November. In sports, Ireland’s Uefa Nations League team wore black armbands and refused to shake hands with Israeli players in solidarity with Gaza victims. Irish captain Dara O'Shea pledged to donate match earnings to humanitarian causes in Gaza.

Netanyahu is a fugitive from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and a wanted war crimes suspect. He returns to Israel to campaign in a general election less than a month away, where his handling of the Gaza war and Iran policy will be central to voter judgment.