Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in New York Monday ahead of an address he will give before the United Nation General Assembly in which he vowed to “refute the slander and lies” in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech.

In his Friday address, Abbas accused Israel’s 50-day assault on Gaza as a “genocidal crime,” where more than 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed.

Ahead of boarding his plane to New York, Netanyahu told reporters his speech will “refute the lies that are being told about us,” adding that he will tell the truth about the “heroic soldiers of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]” before describing it as “the most moral army in the world.”

An official from the Netanyahu’s office had described Abbas’s address as “an inciteful hate speech full of lies,” Agence France-Presse reported.

“After the Iranian president's deceptive speech and Abu Mazen's inciteful speech, I will tell the truth on behalf of Israel's citizens to the entire world," he said in a statement late Saturday, using the Palestinian president’s nickname.

“In my U.N. General Assembly speech and in all of my meetings I will represent the citizens of Israel and will –- on their behalf -– refute the slander and lies directed at our country," Netanyahu said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also blasted Abbas on Saturday, accusing him of “diplomatic terrorism” and saying his remarks “highlight once again how he does not want and cannot be a partner for a reasonable diplomatic agreement.”

The Israeli prime minister will fly to Washington D.C. after his address where he is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama.

*Alarabiya