Netanyahu to deliver 'razor-sharp' response to Abbas at UN, official says

NEW YORK CITY - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to speak at the United Nations at noon U.S. Eastern (7:30 P.M. Israel), and he has said that he's determined to dispel what he called the deception of Iranian President Hassan Rohani and the incitement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

A senior Israeli official said that Netanyahu's speech will include "a razor-sharp response" to the speech given by Abbas on Friday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UNGA on Monday before Netanyahu's speech, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that "Abbas's speech was a message of hatred and incitement. He is not a man of peace.

"We have no peace partner. Until we have a partner, all peace initiatives will stay on the shelf." Abbas, Lieberman said, has "lost touch with reality."

On Friday, Abbas told the UN General Assembly that Israel had conducted a "war of genocide" during the seven-week Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. Abbas said he would seek a UN resolution to set a deadline for Israel to pull out of land it captured in the 1967 war.

Netanyahu's remarks are part of a broader diplomatic offensive by Israel, including the Israeli premier's Sunday night meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Netanyahu told Kerry of his objections to Abbas's speech.

And Netanyahu and Lieberman have instructed Israeli diplomatic delegations worldwide to encourage foreign ministries and the leaders of various countries to condemn Abbas’s speech.

Haaretz