After expressing condolences to Jordan for the execution of its pilot held captive by Islamic State, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday drew parallels between the jihadist organization and Iran in highlighting the “menacing danger of having extremist Islam backed up by atomic weapons.”
“I’d like to send my condolences to King Abdullah and to the Jordanian people in the wake of the shocking murder of the Jordanian air force pilot,” Netanyahu said.
“The Islamic State burns people alive while the Islamic Republic of Iran hangs them in the town square,” the premier said. “Both are motivated by an extremist Islam whose cruelty knows no bounds, but the most menacing danger to humanity will be if this extremism is backed by nuclear weapons.”
Netanyahu spoke following a defense briefing with army chiefs on the Golan Heights, the newest front in Israel’s battle against Iranian-backed proxies.
“I came here with the defense minister and IDF commanders in light of the emerging threats on the Golan,” the prime minister said. “Iran has been trying to open up a new front [here] in addition to south Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.”
Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon attacked IDF vehicles traveling in the village of Ghajar in the Galilee panhandle with Kornet anti-tank missiles last week, killing two IDF soldiers and wounding seven others.
The attack was the Shi’ite group’s retaliation to the killing of senior Hezbollah and Iranian operatives in the town of Quneitra, which lies on the Syrian side of the Golan, just 10 days earlier.
In denouncing Iran, Netanyahu vowed that Israel would “vehemently oppose” an agreement between the Islamic Republic and the West that would permit Tehran to maintain a nuclear capability.
“Instead of leading figures in the international community demanding that Iran cease and desist from terrorism in the region and globally, they are running toward an agreement that will permit Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said.
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, was quoted by state media on Tuesday as saying that the sides had narrowed gaps and were moving closer to an agreement.
“The agreement that is currently being discussed with Iran is a very dangerous one,” the Israeli premier said. “It’s dangerous for Israel, it’s dangerous for the region, and it is dangerous for the entire world.”
“We will oppose it vehemently.”
In a move that has ruffled feathers within the Obama administration and among Democrats, Netanyahu has accepted an invitation from House Speaker John Boehner to address a joint session of Congress next month. The prime minister is expected to use the platform to warn of the dangers of striking a deal with Iran that would leave it "a nuclear threshold state."