Netanyahu pledges to refute ‘lies’ about Gaza

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Israel yesterday en route to the United Nations in New York, saying he will refute "all of the lies directed at us" with regard to Israel’s recently concluded war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu’s comments come after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas charged that Israel had committed “a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world” during an address to the General Assembly on Friday.

“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,” he said.