PLO reacts to Bibi’s UN address

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has slammed remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his address at the United Nations.

A senior member of the organization reacted to Bibi’s comments at the 69th annual session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday.

PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi released a statement calling Netanyahu’s address misleading.

She said that the Israeli premier manipulated facts when he compared the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas with the ISIL terrorist group.

“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.

During his speech, Netanyahu likened Israel’s deadly war on the beleaguered Gaza Strip to US-led airstrikes against the ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria.

“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,” the PLO official said.

“The UN podium would have been the most appropriate place for Netanyahu to announce his acceptance of all relevant UN resolutions and his adherence to international law and universal human rights,” she noted.

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds (Jerusalem), and the besieged Gaza Strip and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories.

Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.

NT/MAM/AS