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Netanyahu set to counter Abbas accusations in UN General Assembly speech

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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will today address the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York, three days after Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas told the forum that Israel is guilty of unmatched “war crimes.”

In his Friday speech, Abbas claimed that Israel’s actions during Operation Protective Edge this summer constituted “a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world,” which are “unmatched in modern times.” He also said that Israel was responsible for the failure of peace talks and “has consistently sought to fragment our land and our unity.”

While in New York, Abbas said in his speech that he will seek a UN Security Council members to force Israel to withdraw from the West Bank. US leaders have repeatedly opposed such unilateral actions as detrimental to the chances of successful bilateral Israeli-Palestinian talks. Haaretz reports this morning that the UK, US and Australia have already rejected Abbas’s overtures.

Before leaving Israel yesterday, Netanyahu vowed to refute Abbas’s “incitement” during his own General Assembly address later today, pledging to “tell the truth of Israel’s citizens to the entire world.” He explained, “In my UN General Assembly speech and in all of my meetings I will represent the citizens of Israel and will – on their behalf – refute the slander and lies directed at our country.”

On Wednesday, Netanyahu will meet President Barack Obama in Washington, in their first meeting for seven months. The ongoing talks surrounding Iran’s nuclear programme is expected to top the agenda.

In further reaction to Abbas’s speech, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Abbas “is not a man of peace” and that he “complements Hamas in his political terrorism and storytelling against Israel.” However, opposition and Labour Party leader Isaac Herzog told Ynet, “You can criticize Abbas, but at the end of the day, we prefer the PA taking responsibility of Gaza, and we prefer Abbas and the PA’s full security cooperation in the West Bank.”