What did Trump say about Gaza?<\/p>\n
Speaking immediately before Trump, Brazil\u2019s president Lula described events in Gaza as a genocide.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to stop the war in Gaza immediately. We have to stop it,\u201d Trump told the assembly.<\/p>\n
He reserved his criticism for Hamas, saying he was working for the release of all hostages taken during the October 7th attack on Israel. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want all 20 back. We don\u2019t want two or four,\u201d Trump said. He said some families had also asked him to secure the return of their loved one\u2019s bodies.<\/p>\n
Trump criticised the wave of countries that have recognised Palestine, including France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Portugal.<\/p>\n
Such recognition was \u201ca reward for these horrible trustees, including October 7th, even while they refuse to release the hostages\u201d Trump told the assembly.<\/p>\n
Trump seems to reject the concept of refugees:<\/p>\n
One of the concepts to emerge in the wake of the second World War was that people who are forced to flee their countries because of war, persecution of violence have the right to seek safety elsewhere.<\/p>\n
The idea became international law in the 1951 Geneva Convention, which set down the rights of refugees and the obligations countries have to protect them. One key principle is \u201cnon-refoulement\u201d: prohibiting the returning of refugees to countries where they face danger.<\/p>\n
In his address to the UN general assembly, US president Donald Trump appeared to reject the concept non-refoulement and even the idea of refugees in itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the United States, we reject the idea that mass numbers of people from foreign lands can be permitted to travel halfway around the world, trample our borders, violate our sovereignty, cause unmitigated crime and deplete our social safety net,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The UN supports refugees through the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). This includes food and shelter in emergency situations, sometimes distributed through prepaid cards.<\/p>\n
Trump characterised support like this as follows: \u201cthe United Nations is funding an assault on western nations and their borders\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe UN is supporting people that are illegally coming into the United States, and then we have to get them out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe UN is supposed to stop invasions, not create them, and not finance them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Core of Trump speech is to attack immigration and green energy:<\/p>\n
The central two points of Trump\u2019s address to the UN general assembly have been to attack immigration and green energy, and to call on fellow leaders to reject both.<\/p>\n
He accused national leaders, particularly in Europe, of \u201cdestroying\u201d their countries by allowing \u201cuncontrolled\u201d immigration.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour countries are going to hell,\u201d he told them.<\/p>\n
He went on to say that green energy is a \u201cscam\u201d and that climate change is \u201cthe greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been right about everything, and I\u2019m telling you if you don\u2019t get away from the green energy scam your country is going to fail,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Scientific evidence overwhelming shows that climate change is accelerating, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels, causing damaging extreme weather events and threatening the systems that support life on earth.<\/p>\n
Trump concluded by addressing leaders in the hall directly, telling them \u201cyou need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you are going to be great again\u201d. <\/p>\n
These two points on immigration and climate change were the central plank of his pre-prepared remarks.<\/p>\n
Lack of quick victory in Ukraine making Russia \u201clook bad\u201d, Trump says:<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s protracted war in Ukraine is making the invading country look bad, US president Donald Trump has told the UN General Assembly.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf the seven wars that I\u2019ve stopped I thought that would be the easiest because of my relationship with Putin which has always been a good one,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone thought that Russia would win this war in three days but it didn\u2019t work out that way. It was supposed to be a quick little skirmish. It\u2019s not making Russia look good, it\u2019s making them look bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Protesters](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/JBH72M4KC7AC35M42IZ7XQRBEE.jpg\")
Protesters attempt to block Trump’s motorcade ahead of his appearance at the UN General Assembly (Photo by Stephanie Keith\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n
Trump calls on European countries to stop buying Russian energy:<\/p>\n
Trump has used the UN podium to repeat a call that all European countries stop all purchases of Russian energy.<\/p>\n
Hungary and Slovakia still buy Russian oil, which is piped to them through the Druzbha pipeline, and Russian gas through the TurkStream pipeline.<\/p>\n
They have insisted they cannot do without Russian energy, saying ending the supply would increase prices for their people and endanger national security.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re funding the war against themselves. Whoever heard of that one,\u201d Trump told the assembly.<\/p>\n
He would be discussing it with European leaders today, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cEurope has to step it up, they can\u2019t be doing what they\u2019re doing. They\u2019re buying oil and gas from Russia while fighting Russia. It\u2019s embarrassing to them,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to immediately cease all energy purchases from Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is the purpose of the United Nations?\u201d Trump asks UN:<\/p>\n
US president Donald Trump has claimed to have personally ended seven wars since he began his current term in office. \u201cThey said they were unendable,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s too bad I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them … I never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
He accused the UN of merely sending a \u201cstrongly worded letter\u201d instead of taking action.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was too busy working to save millions of lives, but later I realised the United Nations wasn\u2019t there for us,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is the purpose of the United Nations? the UN has such tremendous potential. I\u2019ve always said it … but it\u2019s not coming even close to meeting that potential.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump complains that he was not hired to renovate UN building:<\/p>\n
US president Donald Trump has recalled that he was not awarded a contract to renovate the UN headquarters in New York, saying he had promised to use mahogany and marble.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey decided to go in another direction which was more expensive at the time,\u201d he remembers. \u201cFrankly, looking at the building and getting stuck on the escalator they still haven\u2019t finished the job … many things in the United Nations are happening just like that but on a much bigger scale, sad to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/K56G6TCR4EGYCVUMJLAJ46Z62A.jpg\")
US President Donald Trump tells the UN general assembly about his record in office. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY \/ AFP) <\/p>\n
Donald Trump takes the podium:<\/p>\n
The address of US president Donald Trump has been nervously anticipated given his combative approach to the UN and the post-WW2 international order.<\/p>\n
He has diffused some of that tension by making the assembly laugh at the outset of his speech, remarking that the teleprompter is not working. \u201cWhoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble,\u201d he says. It\u2019s the first laugh yet.<\/p>\n
Reading from notes, Trump has started into what so far seems to be a stock speech, lauding his record so far in office on the economy, crime, and immigration.<\/p>\n
Simon Harris said UN reform \u201cbadly needed\u201d:<\/p>\n
Our man in New York Keith Duggan has been among the journalists doorstepping leaders as they arrive for the UN debate.<\/p>\n
T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris has called for UN reform.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think reforms at the UN are badly needed and not wishing to be pessimistic, I have been present for many conversations about UN reform and its often been a lot of talk without an ability to follow through,\u201d Harris told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t say that to be critical of the United Nations. But the huge challenge I am hearing here is the very significant liquidity challenge that parts of the UN faces and trying to reform when your budgets are reduced and there is greater conflict than any time since the Cold War makes it an even greater challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
International law is being buried under the rubble of Gaza, Lula says:<\/p>\n
Brazil\u2019s Lula is not the first speaker to suggest that impunity for breaches of international law is highly damaging to the project of upholding such principles.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing, absolutely nothing justifies the ongoing genocide in Gaza. There under tonnes of rubble are buried tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children,\u201d Lula has told the assembly. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere we see that international law and the myth of ethical exceptionalism of the West are also buried there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brazil\u2019s Lula notes conviction of predecessor for plotting coup:<\/p>\n
According to a tradition going back to 1955, Brazil always speaks first at the UN General Assembly. The host comes next \u2013 the US \u2013 meaning that two ideological foes are speaking back to back.<\/p>\n
Brazilian president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva began his speech by regretting international backsliding on international law. He then moved on to note the conviction this month of his right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, for plotting a military coup.<\/p>\n
A panel of five Supreme Court justices convicted the former president of trying to cling to power after losing the 2022 election to Lula, and sentenced him to 27 years in jail. He is also banned from running for office until 2060. Bolsonaro has called the trial a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d aimed at preventing him from contesting the 2026 election.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the eyes of the world, Brazil sent a message to all aspiring autocrats and those who support them: our democracy, our sovereignty are non-negotiable,\u201d Lula told the assembly.<\/p>\n
Does the UN still matter?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe gather to prove that this institution matters,\u201d the president of the United Nations General Assembly Annalena Baerbock has told the session.<\/p>\n
This is the 80th time the general assembly has met, and it is a \u201cmake it or break it moment, politically, financially\u201d for the UN, Baerbock continues.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard not to think as she is speaking the things that contributed to the collapse of the League of Nations, the predecessor to the UN, in the 1930s. It lost its authority because powerful nations ignored it, and invaded other countries.<\/p>\n
The open flouting of international law by states such as Russia and Israel is a major challenge to the UN, as is the hostile approach of the Trump administration, which has withdrawn from Unesco, the UN Human Rights Council, and the UN-brokered Paris Agreement to curb climate change.<\/p>\n
The world currently faces challenges that can only be faced collectively, Baerbock says, like climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work together or we suffer alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Applause as Guterres calls on Israel to heed international court:<\/p>\n
The first applause of the session has come as Ant\u00f3nio Guterres calls on Israel to implement measures ordered by the International Court of Justice in regard to Gaza.<\/p>\n
He called for an immediate permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages by Hamas, and immediate access for humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n
Since the ICJ ruled there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and ordered Israel to prevent this, \u201ca famine has been declared and the killing has intensified,\u201d he told the assembly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe measures stipulated by the ICJ must be implemented fully and immediately,\u201d he said. \u201cNothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people and the systematic destruction of Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also condemned the situation in Ukraine, where \u201crelentless violence continues to kill civilians\u201d.<\/p>\n
UN secretary general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres says principles of UN \u201cunder siege\u201d:<\/p>\n
The session is now under way, presided over by former German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock.<\/p>\n
In an opening speech, UN secretary general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has warned that the principles of the UN are \u201cunder siege\u201d. He recalled that the UN was created by those who had witnessed the Nazi death camps, to prevent a repeat of second World War. There is now a choice between \u201ca world of might makes right, or a world of rights for all\u201d.<\/p>\n
The ability of the UN to do its work is being cut out from under it, Guterres said. The United States has cut $1 billion in funding from the UN under Trump, causing a budgetary crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cInternational co-operation is not naivety, it is hard headed pragmatism,\u201d Guterres told the assembly. \u201cThe choices we make are not part of an ideological debate, they are life and death for millions.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"UN](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/VLNRLD46WURZXSKJ64K4DO4ZKM.jpg\")
UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n
Welcome to The Irish Times live blog of the United Nations General Assembly in New York as world leaders gather to address crises from Gaza to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
US president Donald Trump is due to be one of the first speakers, at roughly 14:50 Irish time.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m Naomi O\u2019Leary and I\u2019ll be with you for the next few hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key reads Takeaways from Trump\u2019s speech at the UN: It was anti-climatic. There was no bombshell announcement; much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,356,13,14,6,3857,11,12,15,16,5,72,7,8,6221,2863,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-81432","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","15":"tag-latest-news","16":"tag-latestnews","17":"tag-main-news","18":"tag-mainnews","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-palestine","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-trump-presidency","24":"tag-united-nations-un","25":"tag-world","26":"tag-world-news","27":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}