78 Nations Absent During Netanyahu's UN Speech, Israel Claims Staged Walkout

An initial analysis by Israel's UN mission indicates that 78 countries were not present in the General Assembly hall during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech on Thursday, an increase from the 70 countries absent last year. However, some delegates who left when Netanyahu began speaking reportedly returned during his address. Of the 193 member states and two observer states, 117 delegations remained, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, India, Japan, Canada, Australia, Russia, and China.

Among Arab nations, only the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain remained in the hall. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Palestine were among those absent, alongside Iran, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, and South Africa. Spain was the only European country to leave.

Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, described the mass departure as a "planned political stunt designed to create a false image." He asserted that "Israel's enemies" pre-arranged for delegates from countries like Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia to walk out for cameras, claiming the hall was full before the speech and had more delegations present than during other leaders' addresses. Danon called the event a "transparent and embarrassing public relations campaign."

The Israeli mission's analysis suggests the Palestinian delegation specifically asked its representatives to sit together and leave demonstratively during Netanyahu's speech, supporting the claim that the walkout was coordinated. Additionally, Iran-affiliated sources allegedly spread a false claim on social media that the Israeli ambassador was removed from the hall after embarrassing Iran's representative, using an unrelated old video of a previous ambassador's removal. This is suspected to be part of an Iranian influence operation.

The report also highlighted a widely shared video of Danon offering an Iranian delegate a Starlink router, which the delegate ignored. Danon stated the device could help the Iranian people gain freedom, referencing Netanyahu's speech where he displayed a satellite communication device and suggested its potential use by Iran. The video garnered approximately eight million views, with about 40% of viewers in Iran, indicating significant exposure within the country.