Turkey

Ankara, September 25, 2026. At the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, Benyamin Netanyahou compared the accusation of genocide against Israel to the "biggest lie of the century", claiming that his country had prevented a genocide in Gaza rather than committing one, citing food distribution and polio vaccination campaigns. The Turkish press first notes the almost empty room that welcomed him: according to Daily Sabah, dozens of delegations left the hemicycle as soon as the Israeli Prime Minister took the floor, leaving him to address a largely deserted Genel Kurul. The media emphasizes that the visit, which lasted less than eight hours, contrasts with the week-long stay of last year: no meeting with Donald Trump, no interview with Western European leaders, and even the scheduled meeting with Elon Musk was cancelled. Former Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren sees this as a blow to Netanyahou five weeks before the October 27 legislative elections; his counterpart Alon Liel judges that he has never seen such a humiliating visit by an Israeli Prime Minister to the UN.

Bianet and BBC Turkish focus on the words addressed to Turkey. Netanyahou ranked Ankara among the countries that spread a hostile discourse against Israel, calling Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a "tyrant", accusing him of hosting Hamas leaders, imprisoning journalists and opponents, and being responsible for the deaths of Kurdish civilians. He also reproached him for illegally occupying northern Cyprus and targeting Syria. The Israeli Prime Minister also called the delegates who left "moral cowards", assured that by striking Iran, Israel was also protecting some of the countries that left, whose leaders would thank him in private, and described this attack as one of the easiest decisions of his career.

Cumhuriyet documents in parallel the demonstrations in front of the UN headquarters, where the New York police arrested dozens of people, including actress Susan Sarandon. A spokesperson for Jewish Voice for Peace denounced an architect of genocide in Gaza; a municipal elected official called Netanyahou a war criminal. Daily Sabah also recalls the confrontation with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was called an anti-Semite by Netanyahou, and responded that no lie would make the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against the Israeli leader for war crimes disappear. The genocide complaint from South Africa remains pending before the International Court of Justice.