Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the stakes Friday in his opposition to a possible nuclear deal taking shape between Iran and major world powers, saying any final agreement must include Tehran’s recognition of Israel’s right to exist.
“Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons, period. In addition, Israel demands that any final agreement with Iran will include a clear and unambiguous Iranian recognition of Israel’s right to exist,” Netanyahu said in a statement on his Facebook page.
Iranian leaders frequently call for Israel’s destruction and have sponsored attacks on the Jewish state through their proxies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Netanyahu also made clear in his statement that his government rejected the proposed framework worked out between Iran and the P5+1 countries — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — at meetings in Lausanne, Switzerland, over the past week.
“The cabinet is united in strongly opposing the proposed deal,” he said. “This deal would pose a grave danger to the region and to the world and would threaten the very survival of the State of Israel.”
Netanyahu’s opposition to the deal is a central element of the bitter dispute between him and President Obama that has brought U.S.-Israeli relations to a new low.
The simmering dispute erupted into a public standoff after the Israeli leader came to Washington to lobby against the deal a month ago before a joint meeting of Congress, where many members openly agreed with his position.
Obama called Netanyahu late Thursday to brief him on the framework and reassure him of the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security, the White House said.
