Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used his address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 24 to turn the charge of colonialism back on Britain and France.
Israel, he said, occupied “a tiny sliver of land” equal to about a third of one per cent of the Arab world’s landmass.
“Yet they accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism. Some colonialism. And who’s accusing us? Well, among them are people in Britain and in France. For God’s sakes, they invented the term. Their colonies embraced the entire globe. Colonialism — give us a break. Another lie.”
Still, not many people were in the room when he launched his accusations, as delegates from a number of countries walked out as he approached the podium. The Palestinian mission to the UN had urged member states to leave the hall collectively in protest.
A hail of boos, mixed with cheers, still greeted him.
Netanyahu told those who remained that any “moral cowards” still in the hall could leave now. His own delegation applauded.
He added: “In fact, I want you to know that many of their leaders even thanked us privately for taking out Iran’s nukes.”
The remarks were aimed at two governments that recognised a Palestinian State in September 2025 and have, in recent months, criticised Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the West Bank and restricted trade with settlements that most of the UN regards as illegal under international law.
Britain announced a ban on trade with West Bank settlements on September 8. On the same day, 12 countries, among them France, Spain, Ireland, Poland, Canada and the Nordic states, pledged to “introduce national and or support European restrictions” on trade with settlements.
France has used the same UN week to condemn the humanitarian situation in Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron told the Assembly on September 22 that “Hamas has never struck in the West Bank”, a claim Netanyahu’s office called a “grotesque absurdity”.
Netanyahu’s government treats settlement restrictions and recognition of Palestine as a reward for terrorism.
He also called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a “tyrant” who hosts Hamas leaders, and dismissed coverage of settler violence in the West Bank as the work of “a handful of juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number”.
He rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza as “the greatest lie of the century”.
Honored to have my research mentioned by @netanyahu in his address to the UNGA. Israel has in fact implemented more civilian harm mitigation measures (many that no nation has ever even imagined/attemped) than any military in history.
The other facts in his speech were also spot… pic.twitter.com/Y5Ic1DCUFL
— John Spencer (@SpencerGuard) September 25, 2026
Netanyahu said that Jews had been “demonised, targeted” solely because of their religion.
“Jews have been murdered in Sydney, Manchester, Montreal, Boulder, Colorado. They’ve been attacked in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Berlin, Washington DC… the anti-Semites of the world want to terrify our people.”
But, he said: “I have news for them. The days when Jews were defenceless victims, marched to the slaughter, are over.”
Britain and France were imperial powers whose possessions did, at their height, span much of the globe.
Currently, the UK is being called out by the Argentinian government at the UN over the possession of the Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas. Argentinian President Javier Milei renewed the claim in his own address to the General Assembly on September 23, calling for a “peaceful solution”.
Outside the UN building in New York, there was a large protest against Netanyahu.
Israeli elections are due on October 27.
They accuse Israel – little Israel – of colonialism. And who is doing the accusing?
Among others, people in Britain and France.
For goodness sake, they are the ones who invented this concept – their colonies stretched across the entire world.
Colonialism? Please, give us a… pic.twitter.com/dGCDcoZier
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 24, 2026
