Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to New York on Tuesday for a meeting Wednesday with U.S. President Barack Obama, at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday Pm Netanyahu reiterated that he was heading to the U.N. to "convey the truth."
"The UN is not a place where Israel wins praise, but I think that it is important that I go there in order to represent both the State of Israel and the truth - and the truth is that Israel wants peace and the truth is that the Palestinians are doing everything to torpedo direct peace negotiations."
"They have ignored every proposal that I have made, both in my 14 June 2009 Bar-Ilan speech and in my 24 May 2011 speech to the US Congress. They have avoided coming to direct negotiations after this Government made an unprecedented decision to freeze new construction in the communities. For ten months, they simply were unwilling to come and negotiate. They need to understand that, despite their current attempt to again overturn the negotiations by going to the UN, peace will be achieved only through direct negotiations.."
"Their attempt to be accepted as a member of the U.N. will fail," Netanyahu continued. "It will fail because it must go through the U.N. Security Council. Decisions that are binding on U.N. members pass through the Security Council. I am convinced that the activity of the U.S., which is deeply cooperating with us, as well as the activity of other governments with which we are also cooperating, will result in the failure of this attempt."
Netanyahu also addressed the possibility that the General Assembly would vote in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state, saying:
"The UN also has the General Assembly in which almost any decision can be passed. It is possible to decide there that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, and this would pass there. But it has neither the same weight nor the same importance. This is not the Palestinians' avowed goal. Even there it is possible that there will be various actions in their regard. We are coordinating our efforts with those of the US and with other important countries, in Europe and beyond."