At the United Nations last week, the strongest condemnation came not in words but in a refusal to listen to what a head of state had to say.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was about to address the 80th UN General Assembly, more than 100 diplomats walked out, sending a clear message: the world has had enough of his rhetoric justifying Israel’s actions that left Gaza in ruins.
It was a stinging rebuke, on the world’s biggest stage, of a man accused of committing genocide and impervious to the horrendous human suffering of Palestinians in Gaza — where more than 60,000 civilians, many of them children, are believed to have perished since the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack by Hamas that claimed 1,200 Israeli lives.
The UN walkout was more than symbolic and did not seem like mere theatrics. The sight of so many empty seats in the assembly hall, where around three fourths of the delegates left, was nothing less than a rejection of a narrative the world no longer accepts.
Diplomats did not want to dignify Netanyahu’s defense of the indefensible — the horror inflicted by Israel in Gaza. The searing images of starving, emaciated children and whole neighborhoods reduced to rubble have shocked global conscience.
The brutality of the Hamas attack — in which many Israeli children were also killed had the world grieving for Israel in 2023. Now, two years later, world opinion has obviously shifted as more and more countries express empathy for Palestinians facing the worst inhumane conditions in modern times.
The recognition of Palestine as a state has gathered speed. Canada, France, Portugal, Australia, the United Kingdom, and others have joined those extended recognition, now numbering 156 of the 195 UN member states.
Western countries have long insisted that Palestinian statehood could come only after a negotiated peace agreement. But waiting for Israel to negotiate in good faith has proven futile. Now these countries reflect a blunt truth: Palestinians deserve legitimacy with or without a peace deal with Israel.
Netanyahu has called Palestinian statehood as “madness” and “like giving statehood to terrorists.” But the surge of recognition shows just how little influence his words now carry.
Even US President Donald Trump, one of Israel’s staunchest allies, has drawn limits. While he declared solidarity with Netanyahu, he rejected calls for Israeli annexation of the West Bank and floated a 21-point Gaza plan involving ceasefires and reforms.
Of course, many are skeptical about Trump’s plan as his record is long on showmanship and short on delivery. Still, his rejection of annexation signals a shift: even Israel’s strongest backer may not be willing to give blindly its all-out support.
The UN Commission of Inquiry has finally said what much of the world already knows: “Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip,” declared chair Navi Pillay. The report accuses Israel of deliberately engineering conditions of destruction—through mass displacement, starvation, and relentless bombardment—that “go beyond war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The man who once claimed to speak for a besieged democracy is now seen as the architect of mass deaths, of the annihilation of a people.
Netanyahu, unfazed, sneered back: “There is no famine in Gaza. These are lies spread by our enemies.” But the skeletal children, the bombed-out hospitals, and the tens of thousands of civilian deaths tell the truth: The charge of genocide is not an exaggeration.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court is weighing genocide charges against Israeli leaders. Netanyahu already faces an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes, and his recent trip to New York required detours around European airspace where the warrant might be enforced.
The UN walkout made clear what Netanyahu refuses to see: the tide has turned. Israeli allies are backing away and more nations are now sympathetic toward Palestine.
Israel’s isolation is no longer confined to politics. The economic, cultural, and sporting worlds are also turning away. The European Union has floated sanctions that could hit trade. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has begun divesting. France, Italy, and Spain have joined arms embargoes.
In entertainment, broadcasters in Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands threaten to boycott Eurovision if Israel competes. Hollywood actors and directors, from Emma Stone to Olivia Colman, have pledged not to work with Israeli institutions “implicated in genocide.”
In sports, protests have disrupted a major bike race, Israeli chess players have been forced to withdraw when barred from flying their flag, and fears mount that Israel could be suspended from European football competitions.
Similar to what happened to South Africa during the era of apartheid racial oppression between 1950s and 1990s, Israel faces the slow but relentless squeeze of a cultural and economic boycott movement that, little by little, could turn it into a pariah.
Netanyahu himself admitted that Israel faces “a kind of isolation” that could last for years. For once, he wasn’t exaggerating.
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