Benjamin Netanyahu denies genocide claims at UN, says "battle against the barbarians"

At the UN's annual summit of world leaders, many delegates exited the hall as Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, prepared to address the assembly. He rejected genocide accusations from a UN-backed inquiry, human rights groups, scholars and other leaders as false, and criticized New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has accused him of genocide and raised the possibility of his arrest. Netanyahu, the subject of an International Criminal Court warrant over alleged Gaza war crimes, praised President Donald Trump as Israel's strongest ally in its conflict with Iran, which the two attacked jointly in February, and predicted Iranians would eventually remove their government. The address came as he campaigns before Israeli elections, with summit speakers condemning Gaza violence and West Bank settler attacks.