Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday night that Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas had nothing new to say in his much-anticipated speech to the United Nations Security Council a short time earlier.
“Abbas said nothing new,” Netanyahu scoffed. “He continues to run away from peace and continues to pay terrorists and their families $347 million.”
Abbas requested the UNSC recognize the “State of Palestine” but also asked the world body to take over brokering peace talks with Israel instead of the United States. He also delivered a list of other demands as well as a laundry list of required outcomes for a peace conference he recommended be held later this year.
The PA leader then practically ran from the chamber the second he finished delivering his address, without waiting to hear any of the responses, as is customary when one addresses the international community on what was allegedly such an important issue.