From Guterres’s farewell to Erdogan’s “concentration camp,” Israel was the target of the opening day. World leaders spent the opening day of the 81st General Assembly calling Israel’s war against Hamas “genocide,” while President Trump, in a 38-minute speech built around the war with Iran, mentioned Israel exactly once.
On Tuesday, the day after Yom Kippur, the leaders of the world filed into the green marble hall of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. By the time the sun set over the East River, Israel had been called a perpetrator of “genocide,” a “regional threat,” and the operator of “the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time.” Israel’s delegation walked out. And the President of the United States, Israel’s closest ally and its partner in a seven-month war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, stood at the same podium for 38 minutes and said the word “Israel” a single time.
The 81st session of the General Assembly opened with Israel at the center of nearly every speech, whether as target, subject, or glaring omission. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the Assembly on Thursday afternoon. He is flying in for barely 24 hours, squeezed between Yom Kippur and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), in the middle of an Israeli election campaign, and with New York City’s mayor calling for his arrest.
What emerged on the first day was a stark picture. One nation was singled out by dozens of others, and even its friend chose to speak around it. That picture raises the question that runs beneath every General Assembly session since 1948: why does the gathering of the nations always end up aimed at one small people?
Trump did not mention Netanyahu. He said nothing about the Israeli pilots who flew alongside American crews over Iran, the Israeli families who spent months in bomb shelters under Iranian missile fire, or the Abraham Accords. The Times of Israel counted the references and headlined its report: “In 38-minute speech to UN, Trump makes one reference to Israel, none to Netanyahu.”
The same silence covered Israel when Trump turned to Gaza. He took credit for ending the war there. “A year ago, the war in Gaza was still raging brutally,” he said. “We ended the war in Gaza, saving untold thousands of lives.” He added that “we brought home all remaining hostages — both living and dead, every single one of them.”
Two of the countries Trump thanked by name are Turkey and Qatar. Within hours, the leaders of both stood at the same podium and accused Israel of genocide.
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