Palestinian President at the UN – Genocide allegations
On 26 September 2014, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the UN General Assembly in New York about a month after the 50-day Gaza war ended. His published statement says: "In this year, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Israel has chosen to make it a year of a new war of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people."
The statement also says: "The difference today is that the scale of this genocidal crime is larger, and that the list of martyrs, especially children, is longer". It calls the war "a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world" and says: "we will not forget and we will not forgive, and we will not allow war criminals to escape punishment." The BBC reported that the conflict "left about 2,100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis dead", and that the Israeli delegation was not in the hall during the speech.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the speech "included offensive characterisations that were deeply disappointing" (BBC). Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called it a "speech of incitement filled with lies" and accused Abbas of "diplomatic terrorism" (BBC).
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