Netanyahu Links Hamas With ISIS, and Equates ISIS With Iran

UNITED NATIONS — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday called Hamas and the group known as the Islamic State “branches of the same poisonous tree,” and he said Iran was the most dangerous country in the world.

Mr. Netanyahu, in an address to the United Nations General Assembly, said that just as the world would never allow Islamic State extremists to gain control of centrifuges for enriching uranium or a heavy-water nuclear reactor, it would be equally dangerous to allow Iran to possess either.

It was a familiar theme of Mr. Netanyahu’s tenure — that Iran’s nuclear program is the greatest threat to the security of Israel and the world.

“Iran’s nuclear weapons capability must be fully dismantled,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “To defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power is to win the battle and lose the war.”

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His use of the term “threshold power” was significant because President Obama has said that he would stop Iran from building a weapon, but he has avoided the question of whether or not the United States could accept an Iranian nuclear program on the cusp of weapons capability. In recent weeks, Israeli officials have said the Obama administration’s willingness to agree to some nuclear capability for Iran is dangerous.

Mr. Netanyahu made only passing reference to the continuing nuclear negotiations between Iran and world powers. He was clearly distancing himself from Mr. Obama’s pursuit of a negotiated settlement, which would leave Iran with some form of nuclear production capacity. Tehran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

Mr. Netanyahu offered few details on the way forward in peace talks with the Palestinians, except to reject charges of “genocide” leveled last week by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

The 50-day war in Gaza ended with a fragile truce last month, and Mr. Abbas said last week said that it was “naïve” to return to peace talks.

Mr. Netanyahu went on to say he could not agree to pulling back from territories that could become havens for militants that threaten Israel’s security.

Dennis Ross, a former chief United States negotiator for the Arab-Israeli conflict, said on Monday in a speech at the Washington Institute that the gulf between Israel and the Palestinians was now “wider than I’ve ever seen it.’’

Mr. Netanyahu also sought to capitalize on the West’s abhorrence of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, maintaining that militant Islamists are all dangerous regardless of their affiliation, whether Hamas or ISIS.

Iran’s President Says West’s ‘Blunders’ Aided Rise of Islamic State The president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, said the West and Arab states should apologize for “blunders” that he said had given rise to extremist groups.

“When it comes to their ultimate goals Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

His comments came as the United States and its allies were bombing ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria, while also creeping toward the Nov. 24 deadline for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. Iran is eager to have sanctions lifted. Europe and the United States say they intend to check Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons.

The sides failed to make any progress last week when President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, Mr. Obama, and many of the European, Russian and Chinese officials involved in the negotiations were in New York. The foreign ministers of the countries engaged in the talks were initially scheduled to meet on Friday; they canceled the session for lack of progress.

Mr. Rouhani has demanded that sanctions against Iran end as soon as any agreement is signed. Europe and the United States have insisted on the gradual lifting of sanctions, to ensure that Iran dismantles key elements of its nuclear infrastructure. Still unclear is whether Iran would reveal to international inspectors what kind of military design work the country might have conducted in the past.

Mr. Netanyahu’s mention of the Islamic State came after Iran’s president also raised the threat posed by ISIS in his speech last week. Mr. Rouhani suggested that Iran could cooperate in the fight against extremist groups in the region after sanctions were lifted.

Palestinian Leader Urges U.N. to Press for Deadline to End Israeli Occupation Addressing the General Assembly, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, criticized Israel but did not offer his own time frame for an Israeli withdrawal.

The Israeli prime minister cautioned the world not to believe the “crocodile tears” of his Iranian counterpart over the threat of extremism. He accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of fueling terrorism in Israel’s neighborhood, singling out their support for Hamas.

“To say Iran doesn’t practice terrorism is like saying Derek Jeter didn’t play shortstop for the New York Yankees,” he said.