DOMINANT ANGLE
Ottawa interprets Benyamin Netanyahu's speech at the UN as an exercise in Israeli domestic politics as much as a diplomacy of the rostrum, tied to the dispute with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the upcoming elections in five weeks.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Netanyahu described the genocide accusation as the "biggest lie of the century" and the attack on Iran as "one of the easiest decisions [he's] ever had to make" (CBC News).
- 02
Dozens of delegates walked out of the room at the call of the Palestinian mission; Netanyahu called them "moral cowards" (CBC News, National Post).
- 03
Israel votes in just over a month in a race that Netanyahu could lose, amid a feud with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whom he described as "antisemitic" (Globe and Mail, National Post).
ANALYSIS
Ottawa, September 25, 2026. The Canadian press reads Benyamin Netanyahu's speech to the United Nations General Assembly less as a diplomatic plea than as the first act of an Israeli election campaign played out on the international stage. National Post notes that the prime minister, engaged in a tight race to stay in power, used the global platform to attack "from the leaders of Iran to New York's first Muslim mayor and partners Britain, France and Turkey". The Globe and Mail goes further: the quarrel with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani "highlights the Israeli leader's growing isolation ahead of elections at home that he may lose".
Before the assembly, Netanyahu qualified the accusation of genocide as "the biggest lie of the century", assuring that attacking Iran was "one of the easiest decisions [he's] ever had to make". He treated as "moral cowards" the delegates who left at the call of the Palestinian mission, even inviting them to leave the room if they had not already done so. CBC News reports that the room emptied as soon as he took the floor, between boos and applause from his own camp.
The aspect most followed by Canadian media remains the confrontation with Mamdani. National Post quotes Netanyahu calling him "antisemitic" and affirming that "since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe". The Globe and Mail recalls that the Israeli government paid for 500 pro-Israel advertisements in Manhattan, one proclaiming "Freedom doesn't defend itself. America and Israel stand together against terror", signed "Paid for by the State of Israel". Mamdani, who had promised to have Netanyahu arrested under the mandate of the International Criminal Court before recognizing he did not have the legal authority, had described the prime minister as "the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians".
Outside, the New York police arrested dozens of protesters, including actresses Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder, the latter photographed handcuffed wearing a t-shirt "fund people not bombs". Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, denied an American visa, addressed the assembly via a pre-recorded video. Canadian media finally emphasize that Israel will vote in just over a month, an election seen as a referendum on Netanyahu's responsibility in the security breaches of October 7, 2023.
SOURCES (3)
- Globe and MailMEDIUM
- National PostMEDIUM
