In defiant UN speech, PM rips world leaders for turning backs on Israel, recognizing Palestine
NEW YORK — Several hundred diplomats from around the world are staging a walkout from the UN General Assembly hall as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enters to deliver his speech.
Those walking out include representatives from Arab, Muslim and African countries but also several from European states.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City on Thursday by video link, since he and the rest of his delegation were denied visas to enter the United States for reasons of national security.
Abbas began by claiming the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip have been facing “a war of genocide, destruction, starvation, and displacement waged by the Israeli occupation forces.”
Abbas claimed Israel has “killed or injured more than 220,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are unarmed children, women, and the elderly.” He further accused Israel of displacing “hundreds of thousands” and “preventing the entry of food and medical supplies, which caused the starvation of two million Palestinians.”
“They imposed a stifling siege on an entire people, and destroyed more than eighty percent of homes, schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, facilities, and infrastructure,” he continued.
“What Israel is carrying out is not merely an aggression. It is a war crime, and a crime against humanity,” he said. Continue reading Mahmoud Abbas, Banned from U.S. by Trump, Demands Palestinian State at U.N.
