Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the UN General Assembly was met with an unprecedented mass boycott and walkout. But while most Muslim and Arab states left the hall in protest, two Muslim countries, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, stayed in their seats and listened to his speech.
According to Israel’s own review, the seats of at least 77 countries, including Bangladesh, were completely empty during Netanyahu’s 41-minute speech. As soon as the Israeli prime minister took the podium, delegates from various countries walked out of the hall in anger. Delegates from many other countries had planned not to attend the session and were absent from the start.
The protesting countries included Israel’s neighbours Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, as well as influential Muslim countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran. But despite strong anger worldwide over the ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the delegations of Bahrain and the UAE, partners in the Washington-brokered Abraham Accords, did not leave their seats during Netanyahu’s speech and heard the whole address from the hall.
Pakistan’s delegation, meanwhile, left the hall and watched the speech from the lobby outside. Egypt and Jordan did not stage a planned walkout, but their seats were empty. Israeli officials claim that because it was a morning session, delegates from some countries could not arrive in time.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report