The date was Thursday, September 25, 2026. At exactly 2:14 p.m. New York time, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, walked toward the green marble podium of the United Nations General Assembly, as he took his turn to speak to world leaders.
He never got to say “Mister President” before the noise began. Boos mixed with applause. From the left side of the cavernous hall, diplomats in their numbers stood up in unison and began filing out, defying UNGA President Khalilur Rahman who pounded his gavel and pleaded, “Order in the hall, please.”
One after another. Delegation after delegation, over 70 countries walked out or left their seats empty in a coordinated protest against Israel’s war in Gaza and its operations in Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank. Israeli officials counted 77 absentees in total.
Netanyahu’s own delegation stood and clapped loudly to drown out the exodus. Then he looked at the empty rows and said into the microphone: “If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now.”
The world had seen it: an Israeli leader addressing a half-empty world. For many newsrooms, this was a story about Gaza. For Kingdom Times, this was beyond geopolitics.
More Than Politics
To understand the walkout, one has to understand disproportion. Israel is a tiny nation of 9.8 million people. Its land mass is roughly the size of Lagos State in Nigeria. It occupies 0.02% of the world’s land. Yet, according to UN Watch, the UN Human Rights Council has condemned Israel more times than the rest of the world combined.
Since 2015, the General Assembly has passed more resolutions against Israel than against many nations with poor human rights records, all put together. Since October 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents on American university campuses rose by over 400% according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Synagogues in London, Paris and Toronto have been attacked and vandalised by people who have never been offended by a Jew. Why does this one nation generate more emergency sessions than any other?
The Bible gives an answer that secular diplomacy cannot: This hatred is not just political. It is prophetic. Three thousand years ago, God gave His prophets a picture of the last days that looks eerily like UNGA81.
Jerusalem: A Burdensome Stone
The Prophet Zechariah wrote: “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zechariah 12:3).
Notice the language. Not some nations. Not neighbouring nations. All the nations of the earth. In Zechariah’s day, Jerusalem was a small hill town. Today, it is the only city in the world that is on the agenda of every foreign ministry on earth. Everyone has a policy on Jerusalem.
At UNGA81, Jerusalem was again the burdensome stone. Nations that cannot agree on climate, trade or AI could agree on walking out on Israel. That is not normal geopolitics. That is Zechariah 12 playing out on live television.
God’s Judgement for Dividing His Land
The very thing the international community demands, which is the division of the land of Jerusalem, is the very thing God says He will bring nations into judgment for (Joel 3). We are not saying every peace proposal is evil. We are saying God attached a unique covenant to that land that no UN resolution can annul.
Satan hates what God has covenanted to use. The walkout at UNGA81 was not just diplomats leaving a room. It was the latest chapter of a 4,000-year-old pattern.
But this is where the Christian must be very careful. To stand with the Bible’s prophecy about Israel is not to endorse every policy of the State of Israel. The modern state of Israel, and its leaders, like all leaders, are fallible and accountable for how they conduct war.
Criticizing a military strategy in Gaza is not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist and attacking and holding Jews worldwide collectively guilty for the actions of a government, is antisemitism. And the Bible calls it sin.
God’s promise in Genesis 12:3 remains: “I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you.” That verse was not cancelled by the New Testament. At the same time, our heart must break for both peoples.
Kingdom Times believes Christians must pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6) and also pray for mercy for Palestinians in Gaza living in bombed-out, and collapsing buildings. We must love the Jewish people and we must love innocent Palestinians who feel forgotten by the world.
The Church is not called to be a cheerleader for any human government. We are called to be a witness for the Gospel to all nations, Jews and Arabs inclusive, for whom Christ died.
The Dress Rehearsal
What happened at UNGA81 matters because it is a rehearsal. Revelation tells us the final act of this age will involve all nations gathering against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2, Revelation 16:14-16). The prophet saw it. John saw it.
What we saw at UNGA81, 70 nations standing up and turning their backs on Jerusalem, is the dress rehearsal. The chairs are being arranged. The alignment is forming
While diplomats walked out, God did not walk out on His Word. His covenant with Abraham still stands. His plan for the salvation of both Jew and Gentile through Jesus Christ still stands.
The UN was built to ensure we would never have another world war. But lasting peace will never come from a majority vote. It will come only when the true King, the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, returns to the city they were arguing about, and the nations will go up to Jerusalem to worship Him (Zechariah 14:16).
The unfortunate part of the whole matter is that those who staged the walkout in New York have no idea that their actions are scripted. A fulfilment of prophecy, which Kingdom Times is bringing to the understanding of the wise.
“And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Daniel says when these things begin to happen, the wise would understand (Daniel 12:9-10).
Until then, our job as Christians is not to hate those who walked out, nor to hate those who stayed. Our job is to discern the times.
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