DOMINANT ANGLE
Kuala Lumpur sees Netanyahu's speech as a domestic political maneuver ahead of tight Israeli elections, where the attack on New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is mainly targeting the national electorate.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Netanyahu accused New York City councilman Zohran Mamdani of "supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters" and "inciting riots against New York Jews", which the official denied on Tuesday.
- 02
More than 100 people, including actresses Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder, were arrested during a sit-in in front of the UN organized by Jewish Voice for Peace.
- 03
Dozens of delegations, including Britain and France, walked out of the General Assembly hall at the start of Netanyahu's speech.
ANALYSIS
Kuala Lumpur, September 25, 2026. The Malaysian press first notes the domestic scope of the speech delivered by Benyamin Netanyahu on Thursday at the United Nations podium. The Sun MY emphasizes that the Israeli Prime Minister, "facing a difficult reelection campaign at home", addressed the General Assembly knowing he would "lash out at both enemies and allies that have crossed him in recent months", ahead of the elections. The newspaper also recalls that he had to mention the case of the Israeli ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, whose son, a soldier, was injured in a car-ramming attack attributed to a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank.
The most visible target remains New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had promised to execute the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu if he came to the city for the General Assembly — the ICC had estimated in 2024 that it had "reasonable grounds" to judge him responsible for war crimes in Gaza, which he disputes. Mamdani later conceded that he did not have the authority for such a gesture. Netanyahu had promised to "tell the truth about you", accusing Mamdani of "supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters" and "inciting riots against New York Jews"; the official retorted on Tuesday that "what the prime minister has said in that video is not true". Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, denied a visa by Washington, did not attend the session.
The Malay Mail highlights what happened outside the hall: as soon as the speech began, dozens of delegations, including those of the United Kingdom and France — accused by Netanyahu of "colonialism" for having recently recognized the Palestinian state —, left the hemicycle. In front of the UN headquarters, over a hundred people were arrested during a sit-in organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, including actresses Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder; the banners demanded "Stop Arming Israel" and "End the Genocide". The New York police mentioned an unauthorized demonstration blocking an intersection, while the organization claimed "over 400 people" gathered.
For the Malaysian press, these two scenes — a head of government in the midst of an election campaign and a New York street contained by the police — compose the same picture: a speech designed first for Israeli public opinion, more than to convince the hall that he partly deserted.
