Netanyahu, the self-fulfilling prophet of Israel’s isolation - opinion

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's UN speech and visit to New York highlighted Israel's growing international isolation, which the article argues he embraces and exploits for political gain. The piece describes a series of diplomatic rebuffs, including US President Donald Trump refusing to meet him, and sparse attendance at his UN address. Netanyahu is portrayed as turning isolation into a campaign tool, presenting himself as a strong leader against a hostile world, in contrast to predecessors who sought integration.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly in late September 2026 was marked by a series of diplomatic snubs, according to this opinion piece. The article states that US President Donald Trump did not deign to receive Netanyahu, and that only the leaders of Greece, Slovenia, and Argentina agreed to meet with him. During Netanyahu's UN speech, delegations left the chamber en masse, a gesture the author calls theatrical and hypocritical. Netanyahu responded by haranguing the remaining delegations and challenging them to leave, a reaction the author describes as childish and unworthy of the diplomatic stakes. The piece further criticizes Netanyahu for pulling out a beeper to boast about the operation against Hezbollah, likening his behavior to a campaign rally. The author contrasts Netanyahu's vision of Israel as a self-sufficient Sparta with David Ben-Gurion's goal of integrating Israel into the community of nations, and with Yitzhak Rabin's 1992 inaugural address rejecting the notion that 'the whole world is against us.' The article frames the upcoming October 27 election as a choice between these two radically different visions of Israel's place in the world.