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(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)
The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly [UNGA], which took place last week, was themed ‘Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development, and human rights’, at a time when the world grapples with ceaseless, bloody wars, abrupt tariff hikes, and a collective moral collapse.
It put the spotlight on the world’s abject failure to stop the ongoing catastrophe in Gaza that a UN commission has recognised as a genocide. Nearly two years into Israel’s incessant aggression, killing over 66,000 Palestinian civilians — widely acknowledged as a conservative estimate — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump are scheduled to meet on Monday and discuss halting Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza city. Coming days after Mr. Netanyahu vowed to “finish the job” in Gaza and termed the recognition of a Palestinian state “insane” — even as dozens of diplomats walked out of his address to the United Nations — the meeting of the two leaders offers little reason for hope. The fact that despite greater, even if belated, recognition of Palestine by many western countries, and the dramatic walkout staged by diplomats at the UN forum, the massacre in Gaza continues unabated without the shortest pause, is precisely why even the UN system has come into sharp focus and scrutiny.
Expectedly, countries and leaders used the global platform to air their positions, not just on Gaza. Taking his oft-repeated allegations against India to the floor of the UN General Assembly, U.S. President Donald Trump accused India and China of being “primary funders” of the Russian war in Ukraine. India, on the other hand, contended that the concept of multilateralism is “under attack”, The Hindu’s Diplomatic Affairs Editor Suhasini Haidar reported.
Further, India flagged the UN being “gridlocked” and in dire need of reform. “The diminishing ability of the UN to forge common ground was eroding the belief in multilateralism,” said India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.The forum also saw India and Pakistan spar over terrorism and the Pahalgam attack, our DC correspondent Sriram Lakshman reports.
On Gaza, are we finally seeing a shift in India’s stance? “New Delhi, that has been an outlier from other Global South countries thus far and abstained on resolutions calling for a ceasefire, was instead seen backing a number of statements sharply critical of Israel during the UNGA,” Suhasini Haidar points out in this analysis of India signalling a realignment with the Global South. In the latest episode of Worldview, zooming into our fragmented world, she asks a bigger question: Is it time for the UN to retire? Watch here:
Top 5 stories we are reading this week:
- India’s muted voice, its detachment with Palestine: India needs to demonstrate leadership on the issue of Palestine, which is now a battle for justice, identity, dignity and human rights, writes Sonia Gandhi.
- Is the American Dream dead for Indians?Arjun Appadurai and Ajay Srivastava discuss this question in a conversation moderated by Saptaparno Ghosh
- Diella | Virtual minister – Albania’s decision to introduce the world’s first AI Minister, aimed at reducing corruption, has sparked both political and ethical criticisms, writes Adithya Narayan
- The message beyond ‘ending’ Sri Lanka’s elite impunity: The common man in Sri Lanka will be carefully watching whether probity in public life, a highlight of the mass protests of 2022, has been accepted across the political spectrum, writes Andrew Fidel Fernando
- UN expert flags Sri Lankans being trafficked to fight Russia’s war in Ukraine:The Russian Ministry of Defence has enlisted foreign nationals to fight in Ukraine, including trafficked persons from Nepal and Sri Lanka, into the Russian army, coercing them into signing contracts through torture and threats to their lives and to their families, the Special Rapporteur said
Published – September 29, 2025 08:59 am IST
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