India, Sept. 27 -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday told the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that recent decisions by France, Britain, Australia, Canada and other countries to recognise a Palestinian state were "a mark of shame" that rewarded "the most savage terrorists on earth."

Netanyahu said Israel would not accept international pressure on the issue. "We will not allow you to shove a terrorist state down our throats," he declared. "My opposition to a Palestinian state is not simply my policy or my government's policy. It is the policy of the State of Israel and of its people."

He said Israel's existence had never ended efforts to destroy it but had instead given the country the ability to resist. "The rise...