Israel PM Netanyahu Says Those Who Support War on ISIS but Not Hamas Don't Realize Similarities; Says Iran Most Dangerous of All
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday before the United Nations in New York that those who support the fight against ISIS but not Palestinian group Hamas don't understand how similar the two Islamic militant groups really are. He also said that Iran and its nuclear capabilities are even more dangerous than ISIS.
"Last week, many of the countries represented here rightly applauded President Obama for leading the effort to confront ISIS, and yet weeks before, some of these same countries, the same countries that now support confronting ISIS, opposed Israel for confronting Hamas. They evidently don't understand that ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree," Netanyahu asserted.
The Israeli PM talked about his country's recent war with Hamas over the Gaza strip, which left over 2,000 people dead.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"ISIS and Hamas share a fanatical creed, which they both seek to impose well beyond the territory under their control," he said.
"As Hamas' charter makes clear, Hamas' immediate goal is to destroy Israel, but Hamas has a broader objective. They also want a caliphate. Hamas shares the global ambitions of its fellow militant Islamists, and that's why its supporters wildly cheered in the streets of Gaza as thousands of Americans were murdered in 9/11, and that's why its leaders condemn the United States for killing Osama bin Laden whom they praised as a holy warrior."
In his detailed speech he made reference to Iran leaders, including General Mohammad Ali Jafari, calling for an Islamic world government, even if Iran has declared itself opposed to ISIS' attacks in Iraq and Syria.
"Make no mistake: ISIS must be defeated. But to defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power is to win the battle and lose the war," Netanyahu proclaimed.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has criticized both ISIS and the American response, telling NBC News earlier in September that ISIS militants "want to kill humanity."
"And from the viewpoint of the Islamic tenets and culture, killing an innocent people equals the killing of the whole humanity. And therefore, the killing and beheading of innocent people, in fact, is a matter of shame for them and it's the matter of concern and sorrow for all the human and all the mankind," Rouahani said.
The Iranian leader criticized President Barack Obama's plan not to send ground troops into the region, however.
"Are Americans afraid of giving casualties on the ground in Iraq? Are they afraid of their soldiers being killed in the fight they claim is against terrorism?" Rouhani asked.
Netanyahu said that he does not find Rouhani's stance against ISIS genuine, however.
"Iran's President Rohani stood here last week and shed crocodile tears over what he called the globalization of terrorism. Maybe he should spare us those phony tears and have a word instead with the commanders of Iran's revolutionary guards," he continued.
"He could ask them to call off Iran's global terror campaign, which has included attacks in two dozen countries on five continents since 2011 alone."
The Israeli PM insisted that militant Islamic authorities share a global vision of domination, which he compared to that of Nazi Germany.
"Militant Islam's ambition to dominate the world seems mad, but so too did the global ambitions of another fanatic ideology that swept into power eight decades ago. The Nazis believed in a master race," Netanyahu said.
"The militant Islamists believe in a master faith. They just disagree who among them will be the master of the master faith. That's what they truly disagree about. And therefore, the question before us is whether militant Islam will have the power to realize its unbridled ambitions."
The full transcript of Netanyahu's address to the U.N. is available on Haaretz.
