Brazil Walks Out of Netanyahu’s UN Speech as Hall Empties

Politics: Brazil

Brazil’s delegation walked out of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday as Benjamin Netanyahu began to speak, joining a coordinated protest that left much of the hall empty and drew a furious response from the Israeli prime minister.

The UN General Assembly hall, New York. (Photo: Mojnsen, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)

The Walkout at the General Assembly

The protest came on Thursday, 24 September, in New York. As Netanyahu took the podium to deliver Israel’s address to the General Assembly, Brazil’s diplomats rose from their seats and left the chamber, along with delegations from a number of other countries.

CNN Brasil reported that the Brazilian delegation quit the plenary at the very start of the speech. Footage carried by the BBC showed row upon row of empty seats as the Israeli leader spoke, an extraordinary scene for an address by the head of government of a UN member state.

Netanyahu answered the protest from the podium itself. He described the delegations that had walked out as “moral cowards”, accusing them of turning their backs on Israel while it fights for its survival after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.

How the Protest Was Organised

This was no spontaneous gesture. According to diplomatic sources cited by CNN Brasil, the delegations that intended to leave signalled their participation in advance by posting additional diplomats to their seats before the session began. Brazil’s presence in the hall grew from one diplomat to five; the Palestinian delegation’s from two to six.

The point of the manoeuvre was visibility: the more seats were occupied beforehand, the more striking the exodus would be once Netanyahu began to speak. A veteran of the United Nations told reporters it was one of the largest coordinated walkouts the chamber had seen.

Israel, for its part, brought supporters into the chamber to applaud the speech. Even so, the applause of an invited gallery could not disguise the fact that large sections of the assembly floor were deserted — images that travelled around the world within minutes.

Lula’s UNGA Offensive

The walkout did not come out of nowhere. Two days earlier, on Tuesday, 22 September, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had opened the general debate — Brazil traditionally speaks first — with one of the most forceful denunciations of Israel heard from the UN rostrum this week.

Lula accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and condemned what he described as the illegal expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank. It was the continuation of a line he has pursued since the early months of the war, which has already seen Brazil recall its ambassador from Tel Aviv.

Thursday’s walkout turned that rhetoric into a physical act on the UN stage. Where speeches can be noted and forgotten, the image of Brazil’s empty seats during an Israeli address is one that will define this General Assembly — and Lula’s claim to lead the Global South’s criticism of the war.

Where Brazil Stands — and Where the Region Splits

Brazil’s stance gains extra weight from the contrast with its largest neighbour in northern South America. Colombia’s vice-president, Francia Márquez, spoke immediately before Netanyahu on Thursday — a scheduling accident that put a South American voice on the podium minutes before the Israeli leader.

Bogotá has moved in the opposite direction to Brasília in recent days, severing diplomatic relations with Iran over alleged terrorist links, a pivot that aligns Colombia more closely with Israel’s position even as Brazil escalates its criticism.

The result is that this UNGA week has become a stage on which Latin America’s biggest powers are visibly choosing different sides. Brazil has bet its diplomatic capital on leading the condemnation of Israel; the walkout makes that bet impossible to miss.

What We Could Not Confirm

The exact number of Brazilian officials who left the hall has not been officially disclosed, and accounts of how many countries joined the walkout vary between reports.

Claims of direct coordination between the Brazilian and Palestinian delegations rest on diplomatic sources rather than any public statement, and Brazil’s foreign ministry had issued no formal comment on the walkout itself — beyond Lula’s earlier speech — at the time of publication.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Brazil walk out of Netanyahu’s UN speech?

Brazil’s delegation left the General Assembly hall on 24 September in protest at Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. Two days earlier President Lula had accused Israel of genocide and of illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank; the walkout turned that rhetorical position into a visible act.

What did Netanyahu say about the walkout?

Speaking to a largely empty chamber, Netanyahu called the delegations that had walked out “moral cowards”, accusing them of abandoning Israel as it fights for its survival after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.

What did Lula say at the UN this week?

Opening the general debate on 22 September, Lula accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and condemned the illegal expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank — one of the strongest denunciations of Israel delivered from the UN rostrum this week.