Analysis of Netanyahu's Speech Reaction

This video is misleading. I was inside the General Assembly

Hall when Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke on Thursday.

The footage is real. As Netanyahu walked up to speak,

dozens of diplomats

got up and left. It looks like most of the world refused to

listen

to him. Some even call it proof that Israel is now a pariah state.

But a closer look at those that stayed shows there's more to this

story than meets the eye. A rundown count shows more than

120 countries kept their seats. That's nearly two-thirds of the

world. All five veto powers stayed, the US, China,

Britain, and France. So did most of Europe, even Ireland,

one of Israel's toughest critics. So who walked out?

And why does it look like so many?

Before I begin,

just a quick announcement.

If there are any other moral cowards who haven't yet left this

hall, please do so now. Thank you very

much.

Each country gets six seats in this hall.

So when one delegation walks out, several people stand up at once.

And the Palestinian mission had asked countries to bring as many staff as

possible and walk out together. That can make a walkout look

bigger than the number of countries behind it.

Most were in this Muslim-majority region.

In Europe, Spain was the only major country to leave

its seat empty.

In Latin America, Brazil walked out. South Africa's seats were empty, too.

The rest were mostly small Caribbean island nations, which skip most speeches

anyway.

Also defended-

Even in the Muslim world, at least two countries, UAE and

Bahrain, stayed. The walkout was real, but most of

the world stayed in the room