An isolated Netanyahu takes UN stage as he seeks reelection at home

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in New York on Thursday for the U.N. General Assembly with a far lighter schedule than in past years, as his ties with U.S. President Donald Trump have fractured over the war with Iran. He also faces global criticism over Gaza and West Bank settler violence, while polls at home frame his U.N. appearance as part of his reelection fight next month. Analysts said the trip could deepen his isolation by highlighting the lack of a meeting with Trump.

Netanyahu was scheduled to meet only a handful of leaders before his speech during the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged his arrest and said the United States should honor an International Criminal Court warrant against him.

He is facing reelection next month in polls widely seen as a referendum on his responsibility for the security failures surrounding the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

The prime minister’s office said many world leaders asked to meet him, but he needed to return to Israel before the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins at sundown on Friday.

The scheduled leaders included representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, Ethiopia, Greece, Slovenia and Papua New Guinea.

Published Sep 25, 2026 2:23 am KST

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu arrives before giving his speech at the UN General Assembly 81st session General Debate at the United Nations Headquarters on Thursday in New York City. UPI-Yonhap

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began the year declaring that he stood “shoulder to shoulder” with U.S. President Donald Trump as the two countries launched a war against Iran. But this week, as world leaders gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly , there are no plans for the two men to be in the same room, or even in the same city.

As the war with Iran has dragged on, Trump and Netanyahu have split over how to prosecute it, straining a relationship between the two allies. Netanyahu has also faced global criticism both for Israel’s war in Gaza and settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Instead of a packed itinerary, Netanyahu, who arrived on Thursday, was scheduled to meet only a handful of leaders before giving his speech.

The apparent snub underscored how badly the relationship between Trump and the prime minister has fractured. Many in Washington associate Netanyahu with the increasingly unpopular fight with Iran and Trump has labored to avoid the appearance that the Israeli leader forced him into a war that Trump said would be a “little excursion” lasting only weeks.

Netanyahu's brief visit also demonstrated how isolated he is globally, three years after launching a punishing war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. He faces reelection next month in polls widely seen as a referendum on his responsibility for the security failures surrounding the attacks and his ability to defend its reputation on the world stage.

Day after day this week, as other heads of state have stepped to the podium, many have harshly criticized Israel's actions, particularly in Gaza. Ahead of his visit, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged his arrest, saying the U.S. should honor a warrant for Netanyahu issued by the International Criminal Court. He is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Gaza, though the U.S. is not a member of the court and New York City lacks the authority to arrest him.

Still, the prime minister is a master showman, and often turns to props and visual aids during speeches in flawless English to drive home his message. Last year at the summit, scores of diplomats walked out while he was speaking. But that is unlikely to faze him, as he speaks primarily to an audience of Israeli voters.

“He times his speech so that it is broadcast here in primetime,” said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. who served under Netanyahu and lives in Israel.

But experts say without the usual high-profile meetings, the trip could hurt Netanyahu’s image at home.

“I think the trip is a mistake, because it exposes his weaknesses,” said Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations and professor at Israel’s Bar-Ilan and Reichman universities.

While many Israelis view the U.N. as hostile toward Israel, he added, the fact that he could not secure a meeting with Trump only highlights how poorly Netanyahu has managed the relationship with his nation's strongest ally.

In 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden was reluctant to host Netanyahu at the White House but still made time to sit down with him on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

“Israel cannot survive without the United States,” Gilboa said.

The slight in New York follows sharp criticism from Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel and a longtime supporter of Israeli settlements, of the settlers attacking Palestinian communities in the West Bank. In unusual remarks for an ambassador, he referred to the attackers as “terrorists."

“It’s significant of a deeper rift,” Oren said of Netanyahu's slim itinerary.

When Trump was in New York on Tuesday, he met with an array of leaders from Arab nations, as well as from Denmark, Japan, Greenland, Ukraine and Venezuela, among others. He then quickly returned to Washington to roll out the red carpet for Chinese President Xi Jinping.

For a leader who likes to portray himself as a global statesman, it is a “big, big miss for him at a time where he can’t afford misses,” Natan Sachs, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said of Netanyahu.

On other past trips, Netanyahu met with a slate of high-profile leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

This year, though, the prime minister's office said “many world leaders” asked to meet with Netanyahu during his brief visit, but that he was on a “tight schedule” and needed to return to Israel before the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins at sundown on Friday.

On his schedule, the statement said, were leaders from Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, Ethiopia, Greece, Slovenia, and Papua New Guinea.

以色列总理内塔尼亚胡周四抵达纽约出席联合国大会，行程安排远比往年轻松。由于伊朗战争问题，他与美国总统特朗普的关系已经破裂。此外，他还因加沙和西岸定居点暴力事件而面临国际社会的批评。国内民调显示，此次联合国之行被视为他下个月竞选连任的重要一步。分析人士指出，此次访问可能会加剧他的孤立状态，因为这凸显了他未能与特朗普会面。

内塔尼亚胡原计划在纽约联合国大会期间发表讲话前只与少数几位领导人会面。

纽约市市长佐兰·马姆达尼敦促逮捕他，并表示美国应该遵守国际刑事法院对他发出的逮捕令。

下个月他将面临连任选举，此次选举被广泛视为对他在 2023 年 10 月 7 日袭击事件中安全失误的责任的一次全民公投。

总理办公室表示，许多世界领导人要求与他会面，但他需要在犹太节日住棚节（从周五日落开始）之前返回以色列。

预定出席的领导人包括来自阿根廷、玻利维亚、巴拉圭、巴拿马、埃塞俄比亚、希腊、斯洛文尼亚和巴布亚新几内亚的代表。

发布于2026年9月25日凌晨2:23（韩国标准时间）

以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡周四抵达纽约联合国总部，准备在联合国大会第81届会议一般性辩论上发表讲话。（图片来源：UPI-Yonhap）

耶路撒冷——以色列总理内塔尼亚胡年初曾宣称，在美伊两国对伊朗发动战争之际，他与美国总统特朗普“并肩作战”。但本周，当世界各国领导人齐聚纽约参加联合国大会时，两人却没有任何计划同处一室，甚至不会出现在同一个城市。

随着与伊朗的战争持续不断，特朗普和内塔尼亚胡在如何应对这场战争的问题上产生了分歧，导致这两个盟友之间的关系日益紧张。内塔尼亚胡还因以色列在加沙的战争以及定居者在被占领的西岸地区的暴力行为而受到国际社会的批评。周四抵达的内塔尼亚胡并没有安排满满的行程，而是只计划在发表讲话前会见少数几位领导人。

这一明显的冷落凸显了特朗普与以色列总理内塔尼亚胡之间关系的破裂程度。华盛顿许多人将内塔尼亚胡与日益不得人心的伊朗战争联系起来，而特朗普则一直努力避免给人留下这样的印象：是这位以色列领导人强迫他卷入了一场战争——特朗普曾表示，这场战争只是一场“小插曲”，只会持续几周。

内塔尼亚胡的短暂访问也表明，在2023年10月7日哈马斯领导的袭击事件发生后，他发动了对加沙的严厉战争，至今已过去三年，他在全球范围内处于多么孤立的境地。下个月他将面临连任选举，此次选举被广泛视为对他应对袭击事件安全失误的责任以及他能否在国际舞台上捍卫其声誉的一次全民公投。

本周，各国元首陆续登台发表讲话，其中许多人严厉批评了以色列的行动，尤其是在加沙地带的行动。在内塔尼亚胡访问美国前，纽约市市长佐兰·马姆达尼敦促美国逮捕他，称美国应该遵守国际刑事法院对内塔尼亚胡发出的逮捕令。内塔尼亚胡因涉嫌在加沙犯下战争罪和反人类罪而被通缉，尽管美国并非国际刑事法院成员国，纽约市也无权逮捕他。

不过，这位总理是一位表演大师，他经常在用流利的英语发表演讲时使用道具和视觉辅助工具来强化自己的观点。去年峰会上，他演讲时，数十名外交官愤然离场。但这不太可能让他感到不安，因为他的主要听众是以色列选民。

“他特意选择在黄金时段发表讲话，以便在这里播出，”曾在内塔尼亚胡手下担任以色列驻美国大使、现居以色列的迈克尔·奥伦说道。

但专家表示，由于缺少以往的高规格会晤，此次访问可能会损害内塔尼亚胡在国内的形象。

“我认为这次访问是个错误，因为它暴露了他的弱点，”以色列巴伊兰大学和赖希曼大学教授、美以关系专家埃坦·吉尔博亚说。

他补充说，虽然许多以色列人认为联合国对以色列抱有敌意，但他未能与特朗普会面这一事实，恰恰凸显了内塔尼亚胡在处理与以色列最强盟友的关系方面有多么糟糕。

2023年，美国总统乔·拜登不愿在白宫接待内塔尼亚胡，但还是抽出时间在联合国大会期间与他进行了会面。

吉尔博亚说：“没有美国，以色列无法生存。”

在纽约发生的这起轻蔑事件之前，美国驻以色列大使迈克·赫卡比曾严厉批评以色列定居点袭击西岸巴勒斯坦社区的行为。赫卡比长期以来一直支持以色列定居点建设。他罕见地将袭击者称为“恐怖分子”，这对于一位大使来说实属罕见。

奥伦谈到内塔尼亚胡行程安排简短时说：“这表明双方存在更深层次的分歧。”

周二，特朗普在纽约会见了包括丹麦、日本、格陵兰、乌克兰和委内瑞拉等国在内的多位阿拉伯国家领导人。随后，他迅速返回华盛顿，热情接待了中国国家主席习近平。

华盛顿中东研究所高级研究员纳坦·萨克斯在谈到内塔尼亚胡时说：“对于一位喜欢把自己塑造成全球政治家的领导人来说，这是一个‘巨大的失误’，而他现在输不起任何失误。”

在之前的其他访问中，内塔尼亚胡会见了一系列知名领导人，包括乌克兰总统泽连斯基、土耳其总统埃尔多安和当时的德国总理朔尔茨。

不过，今年总理办公室表示，“许多世界领导人”都要求在内塔尼亚胡短暂访问期间与他会面，但他行程“非常紧凑”，需要在犹太节日住棚节开始前返回以色列，住棚节于周五日落时分开始。

声明称，他的行程安排中包括阿根廷、玻利维亚、巴拉圭、巴拿马、埃塞俄比亚、希腊、斯洛文尼亚和巴布亚新几内亚的领导人。