Netanyahu Addresses a Nearly Empty Hall and His Media Considers It a "Spit in Israel's Face"

SadaNews - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, sparked several responses within Israel criticizing his performance and his speech, which was described as weak and confused.

Netanyahu delivered his speech before the United Nations General Assembly today, Friday, in a nearly empty hall after most delegations withdrew in a protest against Netanyahu and the genocide in Gaza, which is about to enter its third year.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu and some of his accompanying delegation members wore "QR" codes on their coats and asked attendees to scan the code with their smartphones to access special files related to October 7, 2023, supporting Tel Aviv's narrative.

Empty Hall.. "The World is Spitting in Our Face"

Channel 12 pointed out that the departure of dozens of attendees from the United Nations hall at the moment Netanyahu began speaking is "proof of the world's view of Israel."

They explained that the Israeli delegation tried to salvage the situation by standing up and applauding. A channel correspondent noted that the United Nations hall where Netanyahu is present is nearly completely empty now.

Meanwhile, a correspondent for Channel 13 commented, "When foreign diplomats leave the hall one after another as soon as Netanyahu's speech begins, they are not spitting in Netanyahu's face, but rather in Israel's face."

Some news sites reported that some families of soldiers held captive by the resistance protested outside the United Nations building.

At the same time, Israeli media monitored pro-Palestinian protests in Times Square near the United Nations headquarters, coinciding with a massive demonstration involving thousands of protesters from several U.S. states, chanting slogans rejecting Netanyahu's presence on the UN platform and accusing him of committing genocide in Gaza.

Protesters carried Palestinian flags and signs rejecting the genocide in the region, with others calling for an end to this war and stopping the targeting of Palestinian civilians.

Tired and Stuttering

What Netanyahu experienced at the United Nations led Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid to state that the world witnessed "today an exhausted and disgruntled Israeli Prime Minister giving a speech laden with the used tricks."

Lapid pointed out that Netanyahu did not present his "plan to retrieve the hostages, did not provide a solution to end the war, and did not explain why Hamas has not been defeated after two years."

He confirmed that Netanyahu's speech has further "deteriorated Israel's situation today."

Meanwhile, prominent Israeli journalist and military analyst Ron Ben Yishai focused on Netanyahu's total neglect of the recent words of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and Abbas's recognition of the State of Israel.

Commenting on the speech, a Channel 12 correspondent mentioned, "Having followed all of Netanyahu’s speeches in international forums for two decades, I do not remember a speech worse and more failed than this, even in terms of his stuttering and lack of fluency."

In an unprecedented move on the international level, Netanyahu bragged - while on the UN platform - that the occupation army had seized the phones of Gaza residents and Hamas activists, and that his speech was now being broadcast directly through those devices.

Israeli news sites differed on whether the people of the Gaza Strip could hear this speech. While some sites mentioned that Netanyahu's speech was heard "clearly from the loudspeakers installed by the Israeli army," other media outlets indicated that several areas in the strip did not receive Netanyahu's voice through the loudspeakers.