The Algemeiner reports – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday stood by his criticism of what he called Israel’s “stifling occupation” of the Palestinian people, rejecting remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he was “encouraging terrorism.”

On Tuesday, Ban said the current wave of Palestinian terror in Israel—in which the attacks are predominantly, though not exclusively, occurring in the vicinity of Jerusalem and across the 1967 lines—is understandable because it is “human nature to react to occupation.”

Israel’s settlement activities are “an affront to the Palestinian people,” Ban said. In response, Netanyahu issued a statement that “the comments of the U.N. secretary-general encourage terror. There is no justification for terror.”

Read more at The Algemeiner