Netanyahu compared Oct. 7 attack to '16 9/11s'

On Sept. 24, 2026, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly, where many delegates walked out at the beginning of his speech. Following his speech, many people online attributed various quotes to Netanyahu, with some claiming he said Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, was equivalent to "sixteen 9/11s."

According to numerous posts shared on Instagram (archived), X and Facebook, Netanyahu said the Oct. 7 attacks were "equal to 40,000 innocent Americans slaughtered in less than 24 hours. That's 16 times 9/11 — 16 9/11s."

The quote was correctly attributed to Netanyahu. He was comparing the number of Israeli casualties in the Oct. 7 attacks to 9/11 deaths relative to both countries' populations.

During his speech, Netanyahu referred to the number of people killed in Hamas' attack on Israel before drawing the comparison to the 9/11 attacks in New York City. He said (emphasis ours):

These Hamas monsters, they slaughtered Holocaust survivors. They burned babies alive in front of their parents. They beheaded our men. They brutally raped our women and then they murdered them.

Altogether, they slaughtered 1,200 Israelis that day.

I want to give you an idea of what this means for a country of 10 million. Proportionately, this is equal to 40,000 innocent Americans slaughtered in less than 24 hours. That's 16 times 9/11. Sixteen 9/11s that occurred not very far from here.

Netanyahu said the above at the 11:28 mark in the video below:

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not address the 9/11 comparison, but accused Netanyahu of repeating "baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians," the New York Times reported. 

As Netanyahu approached the stage for his speech, a mixture of boos and cheers erupted and many delegates staged a mass walkout. Netanyahu defended Israel's attack on Iran and denied accusations of committing genocide in Gaza. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a prerecorded speech as the United States denied him a visa to attend the UNGA. Abbas said Palestinians were living through one of the most dangerous periods in their history and that Israel was engaging in "killing, destruction, starvation, attempts at displacement, as well as a genocidal war that has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe." He called Israel's actions a "malicious colonial scheme aimed at making the lives of Palestinians more difficult in their homeland and forcing them to leave it."

For further reading, Snopes has reported on many claims about Netanyahu.