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Reel-scrolling, Starlink trolling, tears: UNGA’s most viral moments this year

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Oleg Son
Oleg Son
Managing Editor, English editorial team
UN General Assembly
By way of political infotainment, there was much to watch this year
UN General Assembly hall. Photo: Wikimedia

The 81st UN General Assembly session, finished this Monday, has supplied plenty of moments that will outlive the speeches. From Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa scrolling Instagram reels to Recep Tayyip Erdogan reciting tear-wringing verses, here’s our tongue-in-cheek recap of this year’s most-watched global political event. 

Diplomacy demands a straight face. The internet has no such obligation. At the UN, every camera offers a chance to make history — or become the clip everyone sends their colleagues.

Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s Instagram break

It seemed like Turkish president Erdogan was speaking to the chamber as Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa browsed Instagram Reels in a widely shared video. He glanced down at his screen as he scrolled through a series of short videos.

The video didn’t show what he was viewing or who he might have been chatting with. However, it did provide a detectable diversion from the official diplomacy: the president, seemingly seeking the same diversion as innumerable others in routine meetings.

Read more: Syria’s al-Sharaa caught scrolling Instagram as Erdogan spoke to UN

Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a reciter 

Erdogan pulled no punches when calling for a greater representation of regional powers in the UN Security Council and demanding justice for Gaza. To make his speech more convincing, he recited a poem by Turkish poet Sezai Karakoc:

«They think that if they get rid of us, the issue will disappear.

Yet, even if they get rid of us, they will not escape their remorse.

Even if they escape their remorse, they will not escape the punishment of history.

Even if they escape the punishment of history, they will not escape the wrath of God.»

It’s unclear whether the verses moved anyone, but former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim certainly did. The official was seen sobbing while listening to Karakoc’s lines. 

A bit less dramatic story: Erdogan awards UN chief antonio guterres the Ataturk International Peace Prize

A Starlink nobody wanted to take

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, removed a prop from the platform and placed it in the diplomatic seating area.

Following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on September 24, Danon went up to the Iranian delegation chief and presented him with the Starlink device that Netanyahu had shown. 

To ridicule Iranian internet censorship, Netanyahu had offered the gadget during his speech and suggested that the Iranian delegates should be given it so they could share their experiences «when they inevitably defect,» as stated in the published transcript. 

In case you missed it: Netanyahu decries ICC as «kangaroo court» after Mamdani’s «war criminal» remark

The offer ended without a taker.

When previous UN stints went off script

  • In 2006, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez called then-US president George W. Bush «the Devil» and said the podium still smelt of sulphur after the US president’s appearance the previous day. The UN’s official transcript preserves the line, alongside Chávez’s recommendation that delegates read Noam Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival.
  • In 2009, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi spoke for more than 90 minutes during his first General Assembly appearance. Still, he failed to beat Fidel Castro’s epic 1960 speech, which lasted nearly five hours.
  • In 2018, Trump’s opening claim that his administration had achieved more than almost any predecessor prompted laughter in the chamber. «Didn’t expect that reaction, but it’s okay,» he replied. The official US transcript records more laughter immediately afterwards.
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