Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Friday while wearing a large button on his lapel that bore a QR code, which he urged attendees and viewers to scan to better understand his country’s actions since the war in Gaza began.
The code linked to a website filled with gruesome images and videos of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel. Visitors to the website were warned that “extreme viewer discretion is advised.”
Mr. Netanyahu directed attention to the code during his speech and instructed viewers inside and outside the hall to zoom in on it with their phones to get access to the linked site. “Much of the world no longer remembers Oct. 7,” he said. “But we remember. Israel remembers.”
He added: “You can remember Oct. 7, too. You, too, will see why we fight and why we must win. It’s all in here.”
The website associated with the code shows images, videos and data about the Oct. 7 raids in which about 1,200 civilians were killed and about 250 hostages were kidnapped and taken to Gaza, according to the Israeli authorities.
The documentation is gruesome, showing the bloodstained floors of homes in communities in Israel that border Gaza; and charred and bloodied corpses in homes, on roads and lined up on the ground at a music festival that had been attacked.
The website accuses Hamas of crimes against humanity, a charge that has also been leveled against Mr. Netanyahu and Israel over its retaliatory war in Gaza, which has killed about 65,000 people, according to health authorities in Gaza, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has displaced more than a million Palestinians, officials say.
Some of the images and videos on the website appear to have been taken by attackers during the Oct. 7 assault. The New York Times was not able to independently verify the the Israeli claims on the site.
Mr. Netanyahu suggested that viewing the website would make it clear why Israel would continue fighting its enemies in Gaza and elsewhere.
He also repeated his declaration that Israel would never accept an independent Palestinian state. “We will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats,” he said.
Ephrat Livni is a Times reporter covering breaking news around the world. She is based in Washington.
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