Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed allegations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza as “the biggest lie of the century” during a defiant address to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, as scores of delegates walked out in protest.
asserted
scores → dismiss → protest
Israel didn't commit genocide.
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Israel → commit → genocide
Israel prevented genocide,” Netanyahu said, calling the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “the most moral army in the world.”
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Netanyahu → prevent → world
He pointed to Israel’s facilitation of food aid and polio vaccination campaigns in Gaza, saying “Israel did everything possible to get them out of harm's way.”
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Israel → point → way
Israel faces allegations of genocide in a case brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice.
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Israel → face → Justice
The court has ordered Israel to take provisional measures under the Genocide Convention but has not ruled on whether Israel has committed genocide.
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Israel → order → genocide
The case remains pending.
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case → pende → ?
In September 2025, an independent U.N. commission of inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide, and the International Association of Genocide Scholars said Israel’s policies and actions met the legal definition of the crime.
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policies → conclude → crime
Israel has rejected the findings.
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Israel → reject → findings
Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of ‘spreading lies’
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Netanyahu → accuse → lies
Netanyahu sharply criticized New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani during his speech, calling him “the antisemitic mayor of New York” and placing him among “all those spreading these lies about my country and about our brave soldiers.”
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Netanyahu → criticize → soldiers
“Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York,” Netanyahu said.
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Netanyahu → elect → York
He reiterated his claims that the mayor supports Hamas and has “incit[ed] riots against New York Jews.”
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mayor → reiterate → Jews
Mamdani has denied supporting Hamas.
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Mamdani → deny → Hamas
“Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here.
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you → try → me
You tried to silence me.
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You → try → me
Well, you can’t silence me and you can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu said.
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Netanyahu → silence → truth
In response to Netanyahu’s remarks, Mamdani accused the Israeli leader of using his speech to “repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians.”
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Mamdani → accuse → Palestinians
“Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Mandani said in a statement.
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Mandani → change → statement
Netanyahu’s remarks come amid heightened concern about antisemitism in New York, where anti-Jewish incidents accounted for 57% of all reported hate crimes in 2025, according to NYPD data.
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incidents → come → data
Mamdani has rejected accusations of antisemitism and proposed increasing the city’s hate-crime prevention budget from $3 million to $26 million.
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Mamdani → reject → million
His administration has also maintained a dedicated Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.
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administration → maintain → Antisemitism
The dispute stretches back to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign.
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dispute → stretch → campaign
A longtime critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Mamdani has repeatedly condemned Netanyahu, calling him “a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people.”
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Mamdani → condemn → people
He also vowed to have Netanyahu arrested under an International Criminal Court warrant issued over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
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Netanyahu → vow → Gaza
Mamdani later acknowledged that the city lacked the independent authority to execute the warrant and called on the federal government to arrest Netanyahu instead.
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city → acknowledge → Netanyahu
Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump, saying Israel has “no greater partner.”
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Israel → praise → partner
He pointed to the joint U.S.-Israeli operation that he said had destroyed much of Iran’s nuclear program after the two countries launched their war against Iran in February.
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countries → point → February
He called attacking Iran “one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as Prime Minister.”
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I → call → Minister
Netanyahu also accused Qatar of spending billions of dollars to finance universities and the Al Jazeera media network as part of an effort to “brainwash young minds to hate Israel, America and the West.”
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Netanyahu → accuse → Israel
He also criticized the country for hosting Hamas leaders.
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He → criticize → leaders
Netanyahu went on to accuse Turkey of being a “super-spreader of antisemitic lies” and condemned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for also hosting Hamas leaders.
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Netanyahu → go → leaders
Turkey and Qatar are yet to respond to the statement.
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Turkey → respond → statement
Outside the United Nations, several hundred protesters gathered with chants of "stop arming Israel, let Gaza live" and "stop arming Israel, let Iran live" ahead of Netanyahu’s speech.
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Iran → gather → speech
Abbas addresses UN by video after visa denied
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visa → address → video
In a prerecorded address shown at the U.N. General Assembly earlier Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that “the Palestinian people face one of the most dangerous times of its history.”
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people → show → history
“How much longer will some states continue to remain silent on Israel or supply it with the weapons that it uses against our people?” Abbas said.
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Abbas → continue → people
He accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and a “genocidal war that has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
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that → accuse → catastrophe
The U.S. denied Abbas and other Palestinian officials visas to attend the assembly in person for the second consecutive year, accusing the Palestinian Authority of “glorifying terrorism.”
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U.S. → deny → terrorism
Abbas condemned what he called the “unlawful punitive measures” and called on the Trump administration to lift the restrictions on his delegation and on the U.N. to grant Palestine “full membership” in the international organization.
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he → condemn → organization
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
