T&T stayed for Netanyahu's UN speech as ties with Israel grew more active

Trinidad and Tobago's decision to remain inside the United Nations General Assembly while delegates left during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address takes on a different significance when set against the accelerating diplomatic contact between Port of Spain and Israel this year.

The first discipline is not to manufacture a number. The United Nations does not issue an official walkout tally. Reuters and the BBC reported that dozens of delegates left; Foreign Policy put the number at more than 100. These are estimates of people, not countries. Reports claiming nearly 70 or 77 countries combine delegations seen leaving with countries whose seats were already vacant.[1]

Journalists Serife Cetin, Islam Dogru and Enes Canli reviewed the General Assembly footage and identified Türkiye, Palestine, Tunisia, Syria, Algeria, Yemen, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran, Qatar, Lebanon, Malaysia, Indonesia and Kuwait among the delegations that joined the walkout. TRT World also named Pakistan.[2]

A further sixteen countries were named only in the broader category of having walked out or being absent: Spain, Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Nigeria, Ghana, Libya, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Oman, Niger, Madagascar, Botswana, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda and Cabo Verde. They cannot responsibly be labelled confirmed participants in the walkout on that evidence alone.[3]

Trinidad and Tobago was in the chamber. UN Ambassador Dr Neil Parsan confirmed that the delegation remained throughout Netanyahu's 24 September address. ‘Our seats remained and will remain occupied for all speakers at UNGA81,’ he told the Trinidad Guardian. Parsan said staying was not an endorsement, restated support for a two-state solution and pointed to Trinidad and Tobago's recognition of Palestine in 2024 and its recent United Nations voting record.[4][5]

The comparison matters because presence in that chamber was visible diplomatic conduct. The United States, Germany, Argentina, Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Czechia and Greece were among the other delegations reported to have remained. But neither that group nor the walkout list is complete, and the graphic below keeps verified departures separate from mere absence.[4]

A relationship moving faster

Parsan's explanation must be recorded on its own terms. So must the surrounding record. On 5 February, Mattanya Aharon Cohen formally presented his credentials as Israel's non-resident ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. In April, High Court orders placed Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps within Trinidad and Tobago's terrorist-entity framework and froze property connected to the listed organisations.[6]

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar publicly welcomed those orders. After speaking with Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Sean Sobers in June, Sa'ar said Israel wanted to strengthen relations across several fields and that he looked forward to receiving Sobers in Israel.[6]

The diplomatic language was followed by a development mission. In July, Cohen and Eynat Shlein, director-general of MASHAV, Israel's international cooperation agency, met Trinidad and Tobago officials. The published agenda ranged across agriculture, food security and education to cybersecurity, smart cities, climate resilience, medicine, institutional capacity, public-private partnerships and support for smaller businesses.[6]

That is a broad programme, not a ceremonial exchange. Israeli representatives also held meetings covering foreign affairs, health, planning, national security, infrastructure, technology and agriculture. Within months, a newly accredited ambassador, minister-to-minister contact and detailed technical discussions had made the relationship more visible and more operational.[6]

The same movement reached the academic sphere. UWI's Institute of International Relations planned a webinar with former Israeli ambassador Ephraim Ben Matityahu, then cancelled it on 25 September amid controversy over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The institute apologised and reaffirmed commitments to academic freedom, human rights, respectful dialogue and peace.[7]

Parsan's explanation—that Trinidad and Tobago listens to every speaker—does not erase the diplomatic meaning of the decision. Governments communicate through presence as well as statements. Trinidad and Tobago stayed as its engagement with Israel was becoming broader, more frequent and more operational. In that context, remaining in the chamber was part of the relationship: a visible choice consistent with the closer bilateral course established during 2026.

The Government says its fundamental policy has not changed. It continues to support Palestinian statehood and a negotiated two-state solution. That position now sits beside a more active relationship with Israel—and beside a choice, watched across the General Assembly, to remain when many others left.