On Thursday Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the hall of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to an empty chair. When he reached the podium, dozens of the nation's representatives from countries that were either Arab or Muslim rose and marched out, a routine protest that nevertheless highlighted the dwindling international support for the Israeli prime minister. One thing is notable, though, the UAE chose to remain seated, a small but telling gesture that even in the theatrics, Abu Dhabi isn't ready to cut the diplomatic umbilical cord connecting it to Jerusalem.

What ensued was partying politics as usual with Netanyahu, who was combative, personal and geared toward a domestic audience rather than one that was international. He labeled the genocide charge against Israel as the "greatest lie of the century," and claimed the Jewish state "did not commit genocide" but "prevented it.

He spared no ammunition for two nations who, he said, were fueling American universities and Al Jazeera to "brainwash young minds," and occupying northern Cyprus, jailing journalists and "massacring" Kurds, while Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was "the one tyrant I know. Doha, which is also an important mediator in the hostage talks with Hamas, and is also allegedly funding some of Netanyahu's top aides who face a criminal investigation by Israel, responded within hours, pointing out that “talking to a half full room speaks volumes about the message's support.”

What Netanyahu didn't say was more significant than what he did. Saudi Arabia and the Abraham Accords, which have been a constant fixture in his recent speeches as he seeks to persuade salesmen his vision of a broadened normalization pact in the Gulf is being embraced by more and more voters, were not mentioned at all.

This was the first time this year Israel has gotten just one mention from an administration that has been the strongest supporter it has had for the past two and a half years. But Israeli officials indicated ahead of time the prime minister would reveal new intelligence about Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities, but nothing did something that won't escape the notice of Washington or Vienna.

Much of the emotional appeal of Netanyahu's speech was directed toward New York's own mayor, Zohran Mamdani, whom the Israeli prime minister has characterized as an antisemite, who also is said to have shown sympathy to Hamas, and who was even invoked over social media likes by Netanyahu.

In a tweet within an hour, Mamdani accused Netanyahu of “baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide” and that “No speech can erase an outstanding arrest warrant for war crimes.” It's a very personal and a very public exchange one of the more closely watched subplots of this year's General Assembly as a New York City mayor and an Israeli prime minister each throw accusations of criminality across the table.

On the West Bank, Netanyahu referred to “about 150” youthful delinquents, responsible for two or three deaths annually, as responsible for settlement violence, a characterization that contrasts sharply with the United Nations' estimates that 23 Palestinians have been killed by "settlement-related violence" this year alone.

He tempered the count of such an outlandish accusation with real sadness, in his reference to Neria Leiter, the son of Israel's ambassador to Washington, who was critically injured in a car-ramming attack days ago, and to Netanel Shukrun, a French-Israeli citizen killed before Yom Kippur, whose parents now grieve the loss of their beloved son.

The same day the UN Conference on Trade and Development released a scathing report on the economic cost of the war. UNCTAD estimated the recovery costs for Gaza at $71.5 billion, and 92 per cent of the economic establishments in the region suffered damage or destruction since October 2023. Per-capita GDP has dropped to approximately $212 per year which is about 58 cents per day, or 17% of the 2022 level; consumer prices have increased 274% from 2022, and unemployment is close to 78%.

It was the "world's worst economic downturn on record," according to the acting secretary-general of UNCTAD. Figure 1 shows that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been short of cash since 2019, having received over $3.6 billion in revenue withheld by Israel and thereby pushing its budget deficit to over 13 percent of GDP and endangering the solvency of its banking system, which is tied to a public-sector debt of $5.3 billion. These aren't abstract propositions; they're the fiscal cornerstone of any postwar settlement that will have to be faced, and they were not part of Netanyahu's speech.

It's all happening five weeks before an Israeli election in which Netanyahu is by the latest poll, by a narrow margin, behind former military chief Gadi Eisenkot when it comes to who would be best suited to rule the nation, and neither the coalition nor the opposition bloc is looking to win a clean sweep of the 61 seats required to govern outright.