Executive PLO member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi responded to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent UN address by saying that he blatantly manipulated the facts in comparing Hamas with the ‘Islamic State’ terrorist group, according to Ma’an.’Netanyahu’s speech at the UN was a blatant manipulation of facts and attempted at misleading the audience through a combination of hate language, slander, and argument of obfuscation,’ Ashrawi said in a UN speech, on Monday.
‘Obviously Netanyahu has lost touch with reality, particularly in refusing to acknowledge the fact of the occupation itself or the actions of the Israeli army of occupation in committing massacres and war crimes,’ she added.
Addressing the UN General Assembly earlier, Netanyahu denied mass allegations of Israeli war crimes committed during its July-August offensive on the Gaza Strip that saw the death of some 2,140 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and left the enclave in ruins.
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Alternately, Ma’an News Agency further reports that chief PLO negotiator Saed Erekat likened Benjamin Netanyahu to the leader of the Islamic State group, after the Israeli prime minister compared Hamas to the organization.
‘Netanyahu is trying to disseminate fear of the Islamic State led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but Netanyahu forgets that he himself leads the Jewish state,’ said Erekat on Tuesday.
‘He wants us to call Israel the Jewish state and supports terrorist settlers who kill, destroy and burn mosques and churches… like Baghdadi’s men kill and terrorize,’ Erekat told AFP.
In his speech at the UN, ‘Netanyahu finally closed the door on progress towards a two-state solution within the 1967 borders and rejected any serious political solution’ in the peace talks, Erekat further stated.
Talks between Israelis and Palestinians collapsed in April amid bitter recriminations on both sides.
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Delegates plan to meet again in Cairo, next month, for negotiations on a proposed long-term truce following the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip.
