PHOTO: UNGA almost empty during Israelis Prime Minister Speech
Source: Israel counts 77 countries absent from Netanyahu’s UN speech after mass walkout | Ful
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN General Assembly drew global headlines—not for its content, but for the mass walkout that preceded it.
On Saturday, Israel published its own count of which countries’ seats were left empty during the 41-minute address.
According to Israeli officials, 77 delegations including Liberia were either absent from the hall altogether, or left at the start of Netanyahu’s remarks.
Among them were all four of Israel’s immediate neighbors—Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria—as well as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran.
Officials noted, however, that not all absences were boycotts. In some cases, representatives simply did not attend the morning session in New York, where Netanyahu was the first scheduled speaker.
Jordan and Egypt, for instance, did not take their seats, but did not join the staged protest. Pakistan’s delegation walked out in protest but then stood at the sidelines to listen to the speech, Israeli officials said.
By contrast, envoys from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates—both signatories to the 2020 Abraham Accords—remained in their seats to hear Netanyahu, despite ongoing strains in relations over the war in Gaza and calls from some of his coalition partners to annex parts of the West Bank.
The walkout was widely covered in international and Arab media, with many outlets leading their reports on the emptying chamber rather than on Netanyahu’s pledges to “finish the job” against Hamas. Even Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shared images of the protest online, calling Israel “the most despised and isolated regime.”
The 77 countries listed as absent or walking out included Spain, Brazil, South Africa, Ireland, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and several from Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific.
Israel’s review emphasized that the dramatic protest underscored the challenges the government faces on the world stage, as diplomatic fallout from the Gaza war deepens.
The absence of Liberia, a country, which claims to be a close ally of the United States and founded on Christian principle, has claimed the attention of many Pentecostal Christians in and outside the West African nation.
Liberia , like many other African countries, supports the two states (Israel and Palestine) solution to the crisis in the Middle East and this was made known by president Joseph Boakai during the speech at the UNGA
But, since the inception of the war , that has claimed the lives of 65,000 Palestinians , 500 Israelis including soldiers, there been no word from the Liberian government.
The war has also brought Gaza to a complete rubble, displacing over two million Palestinians and creating famine especially among women, children and elderly
Recently, the National Muslim Council of Liberia condemned the recent attack on Qatar by Israel in which six persons were killed. But , there has been no ward from the Liberia Council of Churches on the war.
Israelis Defense Force has also launched a series of attack on Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Syria,
These are the 77 countries that did not attend the speech or walked out at its start:
- Suriname
- Tuvalu
- Turkmenistan
- Yemen
- Egypt
- Panama
- Senegal
- Palestine
- Sudan
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Venezuela
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Belize
- Congo
- Oman
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Tonga
- Uzbekistan
- Angola
- Barbados
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Dominica
- Djibouti
- North Macedonia
- San Marino
- South Africa
- Somalia
- Algeria
- Bangladesh
- Brunei Darussalam
- Brazil
- Chile
- Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
- Lebanon
- Liberia
- Eritrea
- Chad
- Central African Republic
- Libya
- Mauritania
- Jordan
- Nicaragua
- Madagascar
- Niger
- Peru
- Saint Lucia
- Slovenia
- Afghanistan
- Bahamas
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- North Korea
- Eswatini
- Syria
- Uganda
- Pakistan
- Lesotho
- Bolivia
- Spain
- Cuba
- Equatorial Guinea
- Iran
- Kyrgyzstan
- Iraq
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Ireland
- Maldives
- Indonesia
- Kuwait
- Namibia
- Malaysia
- Guyana
- Kenya