Manila has confirmed that its delegation left the United Nations General Assembly hall on Thursday, September 24, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up to speak. The Department of Foreign Affairs described the move as a show of solidarity for peace in the Middle East.
“The Philippines joined the walk out in global solidarity for peace in the Middle East and the call for all parties to desist from unilateral actions that erode the conditions of peace,” DFA spokesperson Analyn Ratonel told Philstar.com in a message.
Ratonel tied the decision to Israeli actions in the occupied territories and the situation in Gaza. “The Philippines is deeply concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and notes with alarm Israel’s efforts to advance the E1 settlement plan, and the continued rise of settler violence in the West Bank,” she said.
According to Ratonel, such moves put the prospects of a future Palestinian state at risk. “These actions are detrimental to finding a just, lasting and comprehensive solution to the Middle East conflict,” she said, adding that Manila “has always supported the two-state solution as the viable path to peace in the region.”
The exit came a week after the DFA had already objected to the E1 plan. In a September 17 statement, the department warned that the settlement push and the surge in settler attacks “may contravene international law.” That statement also said the Philippines would keep backing the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
The walkout itself had been organized beforehand. Reports said the Palestinian Mission to the UN asked member states to fill the hall with their staff and leave together once Netanyahu was introduced. The mission framed this as a protest against what it called Israel’s genocide, war crimes and illegal occupation.
Video from the session shows dozens of delegates rising and filing out as Netanyahu reached the rostrum. Other representatives kept their seats, and some stood to applaud him as calls for order were repeated. Netanyahu held off for a moment before starting, then invited “any other moral cowards who haven’t yet left this hall” to go as well.
Delegates also walked out on his General Assembly speeches in 2024 and 2025.
The released footage does not clearly show where the Philippine delegation was seated. With no official roll call, news outlets and observers drew up their own counts from video and photos of the hall, and some of those counts listed the Philippines among the delegations that stayed.
