Africa and the Middle East at the 81st UN General Assembly
By Dr. James E. Sulton Jr.
JA International Correspondent
The general debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, held in New York from September 22 to 28 under the theme “Restoring trust, managing transformation,” closed with one word rising above the rest: PEACE. For African and Middle Eastern leaders, however, the week measured the distance between what the Assembly proclaims and what it delivers.
Gaza, the West Bank and Palestinian statehood returned to the podium day after day. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan set the tone on opening day. He said, “despite this so-called ceasefire, more than 1,300 civilians have been murdered in Gaza,” which he called “the most inhumane, most shameful concentration camp of our time.” He also condemned settler violence in the occupied West Bank, and Israel’s delegation walked out during his address.
Qatar’s Emir called events in Gaza “a genocide in every sense of the word.” Libya’s Mohamed al-Menfi warned that denying Palestinians a state “drives the region to a widening cycle of conflict.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, denied a U.S. visa, spoke by recorded video, warning that illegal settlement expansion threatened “the very life and existence of the Palestinian people on their homeland.”
The most sustained argument came from Jordan’s King Abdullah II. The international community, he said, had chosen to “manage the conflict, not confront it,” treating each Israeli violation as temporary “until temporary became permanent, and permanent became policy.” He reported that at least 300 Palestinian children had been killed in the first 300 days of the “so-called ceasefire,” described the West Bank as “de-facto annexed,” and called Israel a “regional threat” acting with “terrifying levels” of impunity. Because resolutions “end where they begin … on paper,” he named the remaining tools: sanctions, asset freezes, embargoes and diplomatic isolation. The United Kingdom, France and Canada announced measures against settlement trade.
On September 24, dozens of delegates left the hall as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began to speak, the second consecutive year of a mass walkout. He called those departing “moral cowards” and invited others to follow. He then defended Israel’s campaigns in Iran, Gaza and beyond, declaring, “We’re going to win. We have no other choice.” He called genocide allegations “the biggest lie of the century,” insisting that “Israel prevented genocide.”
The fate of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) became a parallel flashpoint. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the agency’s work and mandate were “in jeopardy,” citing nearly 400 staff killed in Gaza and a $100 million shortfall, while Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi described the campaign against UNRWA as “political assassination.” Days later, the U.S.-led Board of Peace confirmed that UNRWA would have no role in Gaza, one official declaring “UNRWA’s days are over.” Acting Commissioner-General Christian Saunders called that position “neither logical nor responsible.”
Hanging over the week was the war between Iran and the United States and Israel, which began in late February and killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. President Donald Trump told the Assembly he was weighing a deal against the option to “annihilate the Islamic Republic.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian replied that Iran would never “bend the knee” but remained open to diplomacy “without accepting the language of force,” and the U.S. delegation walked out. Gulf states, themselves targets of Iranian retaliation, urged negotiation; the UAE’s Anwar Gargash said it was “not too late” for a diplomatic solution.
African leaders pressed a structural case with what one analysis called “rare unity.” Kenya’s President William Ruto observed that “the equality proclaimed in this assembly ends at the doors of the Security Council,” and Ethiopia’s Taye Atske Selassie asked how the world could justify denying 1.6 billion Africans equal representation. Ghana’s President John Mahama, along with Tanzania and Somalia, also endorsed Palestinian statehood, with Mahama linking Gaza and the West Bank to a broader “credibility crisis” in the international order.
The session produced no new binding action from the Security Council. Yet Arab, Turkish and African leaders converged on one argument: the UN’s legitimacy depends on applying its principles in Gaza and the West Bank, and on giving those most affected by its decisions a voice in making them.
