Netanyahu lashed Mamdani in fiery U.N. speech, but real aim was his own political survival, analyst says

September 25, 2026 / 10:25 AM EDT / CBS News

In a mass visual rebuke for the world to see, hundreds of delegates walked out of the United Nations General Assembly Thursday just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up to the podium.

He delivered a fiery speech defending the seven-month war on Iran launched jointly by the U.S. and Israel, rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza and attacked New York City's first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani.

"If there are any other moral cowards who haven't yet left this hall, please do so now," exhorted Netanyahu, as diplomats from more than 70 nations were in the process of walking out.

But one veteran Israeli political analyst told CBS News on Friday that Netanyahu's primary goal in making the speech was shoring up his political position back home, with Israelis being his main intended audience.

Israel is set to hold legislative elections on Oct. 27. Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition government — the most far-right in modern Israeli history — are trailing in the polls.

Yaakov Katz, former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, said Netanyahu's address was very deliberately planned to counter that trend.

"People look at the hostility and…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/world/