(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interviewed this afternoon (Sunday, 16 November 2014) on the CBS program "Face the Nation" and made the following remarks:

"Iran is not your ally. Iran is not your friend. Iran is your enemy. It's not your partner. Iran is committed to the destruction of Israel, just as the P5+1, the United States and the world powers are negotiating with Iran a nuclear agreement, the Ayatollah Khamenei, the ruler of Iran, calls for the annihilation of Israel. He just did that four days ago. He specified nine ways and reasons by which Israel should be destroyed. He's participated in rallies and chants of 'Death to America', 'Death to Israel'. This is not a friend, neither in the battle against ISIS nor in the effort, the great effort that should be made to deprive him [of] the capacity to make nuclear weapons. Don't fall for Iran's ruse. They are not your friend."
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu added:

"Basically the Middle East is awash with militant Islamists, the militant Islamists led by al-Qaeda and ISIS on the Sunni side, the militant Islamists led by Iran and Hezbollah on the Shiite side. We want both of them to lose. The last thing we want is to have any one of them get weapons of mass destruction. Look at what ISIS is doing now with assault rifles and pick-up trucks. Just imagine what Iran would do if it had nuclear weapons. So both our enemies are fighting one another and when they are, weaken both – don't strengthen either one."