Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered one of the most chilling moments of his United Nations General Assembly address on Thursday, turning to the packed chamber and asking delegates to imagine what a single one-ton ballistic missile would do if it struck the very room they were sitting in. He answered his own question without hesitation, telling the hall it would obliterate the entire compound, and that just two such missiles would be enough to wipe out the United Nations altogether. Netanyahu used the moment to drive home the scale of the threat Israel says it faced from Iran, which fired roughly a thousand ballistic missiles at Israeli cities and civilians during their recent war. He asked the assembled leaders to picture a thousand of those massive missiles raining down on their own capitals and homes instead, a stark attempt to make an abstract threat feel personal to the room.

From there, Netanyahu pivoted to praise the resilience of Israeli civilians and soldiers who endured those barrages, saluting what he called the most moral army in the world and highlighting troops from Jewish, Christian, Druze, and Muslim backgrounds fighting together. He argued Israel has been fighting a seven-front war for three years, with an eighth front unfolding in global and social media, where he claims other nations have spent billions spreading disinformation about his country. The dramatic missile imagery came during a speech already marked by tension, as dozens of delegations walked out of the hall before and during his remarks in protest. Even so, Netanyahu pressed forward, using the moment to argue that the war Israel fought was not just for itself but for every nation represented in that room, whether their delegates stayed to hear it or not.