Riyad Al-Maliki
Riyad Al-MalikiReuters

Palestinian Authority (PA) “foreign minister” Riyad al-Maliki on Monday blasted Prime Minister Naftali Bennett following his failure to mention the peace process with the PA during his speech at the UN General Assembly.

"Deliberately omitting a reference to Palestine reflects his fear of it, and once again proves to the international community that he is not and will not be a partner for Palestinians in the peace and negotiation process," Maliki told Reuters.

Bennett’s speech focused on the security front, and he emphasized the Iranian threat, pointing to both Iran’s atomic aspirations and its support for terrorist groups.

“Israel is, quite literally, surrounded by Hezbollah, Shia militias, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas,” he said.

“What do they all have in common? They all want to destroy my country, and they're all backed by Iran. They get their funding from Iran, they get their training from Iran, and they get their weapons from Iran.”

“Iran seeks to dominate the region — and seeks to do so under a nuclear umbrella.”

Bennett called on the international community to take action against Tehran, hinting that Israel might take unilateral steps if necessary.

The Prime Minister’s speech came three days after PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas addressed the UN General Assembly, and used his speech to threaten Israel.

The PA chairman charged that Israel was "destroying the prospect of a political settlement based on the two-state solution" and threatened to rescind the Palestinians' recognition of Israel if it does not withdraw from Judea, Samaria, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem within a year.

Abbas has repeatedly pushed for an international conference for peace in the Middle East, a move aimed at bypassing the US efforts to resume talks.

Past efforts under the Obama administration to broker a peace agreement failed in 2014 when the PA unilaterally applied to join international organizations in breach of the conditions of the talks.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)