Netanyahu says strike on Iran would be good for Arabs

Netanyahu says strike on Iran would be good for Arabs

PARIS (Reuters) - Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought on Tuesday to convince Arab
states that an Israeli military strike on Iran would benefit them,
removing a potential threat and easing tensions across the Middle East.

Netanyahu has made a number of veiled threats to attack Iran's
nuclear programme and has appealed to the United States and the United
Nations to set a limit for Tehran on its further development.


In an interview published on Tuesday with French magazine Paris
Match, Netanyahu said such a strike would not worsen regional tensions,
as many critics have warned.


"Five minutes after, contrary to what the sceptics say, I think a feeling of relief would spread across the region," he said.


"Iran is not popular in the Arab world, far from it, and some
governments in the region, as well as their citizens, have understood
that a nuclear armed Iran would be dangerous for them, not just for
Israel," he said.


Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear
power, believes Tehran intends to build atomic weapons and has
consistently urged the West to increase up sanctions. Iran says it is
enriching uranium for peaceful energy purposes only.


The United States and other Western countries have rejected
Netanyahu's demand to set a limit for Iran and have urged him to refrain
from military action to give diplomacy and sanctions a chance to work.


Netanyahu, who is running for re-election in January at the head
of the right-wing Likud party, told the United Nations last month that a
strike could wait until spring or summer when he said Tehran might be
on the brink of building an atomic bomb.


During his two-day visit to France, Netanyahu will travel to the
southern city of Toulouse with President Francois Hollande for a
ceremony of remembrance for the victims of an Islamist gunman who killed
seven people there in March, including three Jewish children.
Source:-
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFBRE89T18N20121030