Palestinian Authority president begins UN speech by declaring three times, ‘We will not leave’

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the UN General Assembly in New York, September 26, 2024. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the UN General Assembly in New York, September 26, 2024. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

NEW YORK — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas begins his address to the UN General Assembly by three times declaring, “We will not leave.”

“Palestine is our homeland. It is the land of our fathers, our grandfathers. It will remain ours, and if anyone were to leave, it would be the occupying usurpers,” Abbas says.

He proceeds to accuse Israel of perpetrating a “full-scale war of genocide.”

He dismisses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Israel doesn’t kill civilians in Gaza. “I ask you, who is it then that killed more than 15,000 children?”

“Stop this crime. Stop it now. Stop killing children and women. Stop the genocide. Stop sending weapons to Israel. This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening to our people,” Abbas says.

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