Middle East being taken over by Iran: Israeli PM

ANKARA

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the Middle East is being "taken over" by Iran.

He made the remarks during an interview on BBC’s Andrew Marr Show during his visit to London to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, which had set the stage for the creation of an Israeli state in Palestine.

Netanyahu attributed the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resignation on Saturday to a "takeover" by the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Hariri had unexpectedly resigned as prime minister during a speech in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, citing Iranian influence in the region and fearing for his life.

“I think this is a wakeup call for everyone...the attempt of Iran to conquer the Middle East, to dominate it and subjugate it. We should stop this Iranian takeover,” Netanyahu said.

Pointing at the differences between the former U.S. President Barrack Obama and the incumbent President Donald Trump, he said: “Donald Trump sees Iran as the problem."

“I think he [Trump] definitely understands that Iran is the primary problem. It probably accounts for 95% of the problems we experience now in the Middle East and I think he gets it and it’s a good thing that he gets it,” Netanyahu said.

New alliance in region

In response to a question over a new alliance being formed in the region between Israel and Sunni states against Shia-majority Iran, Netanyahu said: “There is a realignment in the region, but I think it’s a larger battle. It’s the battle between medievalism and modernity."

Adding that Israel stood for modernity, he said: “If medievalism wins there, you lose here.”

Asked if Israel abided by a clause in the Balfour Declaration that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”, he said Arab citizens in Israel enjoy these rights.

“In fact Israel’s Arab citizens are the only ones in the Middle East, the only Arabs in the Middle East who enjoy genuine civic and religious rights,” he added.

The host of the show read out statements of international rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch pointing to human rights abuse against Palestinians who opposed the Israeli occupation of their lands.

Netanyahu denied the charges, saying: “I completely dispute the arguments about torture and I completely dispute the whole – the contentious statement here, because no democracy has been threatened like Israel with enemies that seek our destruction and fire thousands of missiles on us.”

He was reminded of a statement by the Israeli Defense Minister who had said the rate of Jewish settlements in the occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank is faster than at any time since 2009.

Netanyahu said that the settlements were one of the issues that needed to be dealt, but they were not the biggest issue.

“I think the issue is the one hundred year old persistent refusal of the Palestinian leadership to recognise a Jewish state in any boundary. If that were removed all these issues, including the issue of settlements, would be resolved,” he said.

Reporting by Sibel Ugurlu; Writing by Sibel Ugurlu