Around New York City, you'd know something is going on.
I’m not just talking about the endless NYPD cops, hundreds of armed Secret Service officers with sniffer dogs, nor the near-constant ringing of sirens from motorcades flooding down the streets.
Also popping up around the city were striking advertisements on trucks and billboards.
"Iranian delegates, thinking of a shopping spree?" one read.
"Back home, your people can’t even buy groceries."
This was one of the ways in which Israel was making its presence felt around the city, with hundreds of billboards and digital trucks carrying messages focused on Iran and its nuclear programme, as well as the US-Israel relationship.
Israel and its involvement in US strikes on Iran, its actions in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank were central to many of the conversations and discussions happening at the UN.
And Israel wanted to put forward its narrative, during a week when it was facing even more criticism.
Those concerns being raised were echoed in the Taoiseach's speech to the United Nations General Assembly last night.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres opened High-Level Week on Tuesday, warning that violence, displacement and settlement expansion were raising the spectre of ethnic cleansing in the Occupied West Bank.
The Taoiseach picked up on that directly, warning about settler violence, displacement and the threat to the prospects of a two-state solution.
"Violent settlers continue to act with near-total impunity, while Palestinian communities face a sustained campaign of displacement and destruction - amounting to ethnic cleansing," he said.
His criticism of the Gaza peace plan was similar in tone to that of French President Emmanuel Macron, who described the "so-called peace in Gaza" as "a spectacle that shames us all".
'The world has failed Palestine' - Micheál Martin
In his UN farewell, the French President also dismissed US President Donald Trump's claims of having secured peace in Gaza, saying that not a single humanitarian corridor had been reopened in the enclave despite the proclaimed peace.
Those comments on the world stage had drawn a sharp response from the Israeli Prime Minister during his address yesterday.
"Here's the simple truth. Israel didn't commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide," Mr Netanyahu said, calling the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "the most moral army in the world".
He came to defend Israel's actions, confront his international critics and portray a country that, despite the pressure, remains strong and capable of defending itself.
"They've chosen weakness. They've chosen appeasement," he said, referring to European democratic leaders, who have become increasingly vocal in condemning Israel's actions.
While the Irish delegation did not participate in a mass walkout during the Israeli Prime Minister’s speech (Spain was the only EU country to do so), the Taoiseach joined a number of countries in expressing serious concerns about the situation facing Palestinians.
When he said that when the true horrors of Gaza "are finally and fully revealed, it will shame the world", applause broke out.
Delegates from the state of Palestine clapped, looking emotional. The Israeli delegation appeared expressionless.
Also during his address, the Taoiseach said the international community has "failed Palestine" and criticised last year's Gaza peace plan, saying that it has not "changed the reality on the ground".
A similar point had been made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier in the day - via video, after the US refused to issue him a visa - who said the promises made had not materialised.
That is particularly significant given that the US President's Board of Peace has just announced a $2.45 billion (€2.15bn) recovery plan for Gaza, covering 66 programmes over the next six months.
But even that announcement came with a warning about the scale of the challenge ahead.
The board says $18bn has been pledged, but only $280 million has so far been handed over, while the estimated cost of full reconstruction is more than $70bn.
The Taoiseach had pulled together many of the concerns that have dominated the General Assembly this week: Gaza, the West Bank, the Two-State Solution, Ukraine, Sudan, human rights and the future of the international system itself.
And there was a distinctly Irish presence on the UN stage during his address.
Coincidentally, the two UN officials sitting behind him were Vice President of the General Assembly Martin Fraser, former Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach, and Emer Herity, Chief of the Economic and Social Council Affairs Branch in the General Assembly.
The question now is whether the calls and declarations that were made inside the building all week by leaders and high-level officials will translate into change outside it.
Read more:
Taoiseach says world has 'failed Palestine' in UN address
Dozens of envoys at UN walk out of Netanyahu speech
