NEW YORK: Hundreds of members of New York’s Orthodox Jewish community staged a demonstration in front of the United Nations on Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was addressing the session of the UN General Assembly.

They slammed the Israeli regime for what they called “degrading” the community by forcing its members in Israel to serve in the military. They carried placards rejecting Israeli leadership.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his speech derided the United Nations as “moral farce”. Netanyahu said: “The road to peace runs through Jerusalem and Ramallah, not through New York.”

On the Israeli/Palestinian question and the demands of the international community that Israel stop building settlements in the occupied territory Netanyahu declared: “Does anyone really believe that Israel will let the UN determine our security and our vital national interests?”.

Published in Dawn September 24th, 2016