DOMINANT ANGLE
London takes note of being explicitly targeted by Netanyahou, who ridiculed "people in Great Britain and France" as inventors of the term colonialism, in a speech that the British press immediately puts in the shadow of the arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court that targets him.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Netanyahu, at the UN podium, specifically targeted the UK and France: "people in the UK and France... they're the ones who invented the term" colonialism (BBC).
- 02
The BBC notes that Netanyahu is under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.
- 03
Dozens of protesters, including actress Susan Sarandon, were arrested by New York police outside UN headquarters (Daily Mail).
ANALYSIS
London, 25 September 2026. The British press first notes having been directly targeted by Benyamin Netanyahou at the United Nations General Assembly podium. According to the BBC, the Israeli Prime Minister rejected the accusation of genocide in Gaza by directly attacking his accusers: "They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism... And who accuses us? Among them, people in Great Britain and France. For heaven's sake, they are the ones who invented the term." Elsewhere in his speech, summarized by the Daily Mail, Netanyahou described the accusation of genocide as the "biggest lie of the century". The BBC recalls that he remains under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, a reminder that the British media places directly opposite his speech.
The institutional setting occupies a large part of the narrative across the Channel: dozens of delegations left the room upon Netanyahou's arrival, whom he called "moral cowards", assuring he wants to "win" because Israel "has no other choice". He also described the attack on Iran as "one of the easiest decisions" of his life, according to The Independent. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, denied an American visa, addressed the assembly via video to denounce a "genocidal war" and the expansion of settlements in occupied West Bank, which he considers threatening to the very existence of the Palestinian people.
A notable part of the British coverage then shifts to New York itself: the verbal duel between Netanyahou and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, described as "anti-Semitic" by the Prime Minister after Mamdani himself spoke of a "architect of a horrible genocide". In front of the UN headquarters, the New York police arrested dozens of protesters, including actress Susan Sarandon, reported by the popular press as a separate fact of the day. The accusations against Qatar and Turkey, or the label of "tyrant" attributed to Erdogan, remain in the background, without comparable development to that reserved for the duel with Mamdani or the judicial reminder targeting Netanyahou himself.
SOURCES (3)
- The IndependentMEDIUM
- Daily MailMEDIUM
