Netanyahu warns U.N.: Israel ‘will do whatever it must’ to check Iran

In a fiery address before the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran and said the deal makes war more likely.

“Ladies and gentlemen, check your enthusiasm at the door,” Netanyahu said, listing examples of Iran’s involvement in regional wars, transfer of strategic weapons threatening Israel, and what he said were international terrorist plots uncovered in recent months.

“When bad behavior is rewarded, it only gets worse,” said Netanyahu, urging the West to monitor Iran’s compliance with the agreement, check its regional ambitions and use sanctions to tear down what he called Iran’s global terrorist network.

Acknowledging that his was a minority view, Netanyahu said there were “well-intended people” who believe the deal was the best way to block Iran’s path to nuclear weapons, but that the best of intentions “don’t prevent the worst of outcomes.”

Israel will not allow Iran to “walk in, sneak in or break into the nuclear club,” said Netanyahu, adding that no one should question Israel’s determination to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Whatever international agreements or resolutions were reached on the matter, “Israel will do whatever it must do” to defend the state and its people, he said.

The Israeli leader also took the United Nations to task. Accusing the organization of “Israel-bashing” and repeatedly passing resolutions against Israel while all but ignoring the savagery of the civil war in Syria, Netanyahu said the U.N.’s attitude toward Israel was unjust and disproportionate. He urged the body to support Israel.

He said a common threat from Iran and radical forces was bringing Israel and its Arab peace partners and others in the region closer together. He added that he hoped this would lead to more peaceful partnerships.

He accused Iran of fueling international terrorism by supporting Houthi rebels in Yemen, supplying weapons and sending Shiite fighters to Syria, and supplying the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah with strategic weapons.

Netanyahu said that he remained committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that he was prepared to “immediately resume direct peace negotiations … with no preconditions whatsoever.”

Shortly after Netanyahu finished his speech, two Israelis were killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank, a statement from Israel’s military said. According to preliminary reports, a civilian car was fired upon while driving between the Jewish settlements of Elon Moreh and Itamar.

Army forces were searching the area for the gunman. Israeli media reported that the two people killed were a couple who were the parents of four children. The children were reportedly not hurt in the attack.

In a statement from his office, Netanyahu called the attack “especially heinous and shocking.” While the perpetrators remained unknown, he said that “wild Palestinian incitement leads to acts of terrorism and murder such as we have seen this evening.”

In a speech to the U.N. on Wednesday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas renounced the 1993 Oslo accord between Israel and the Palestinians, accusing Israel of repeatedly violating its terms.

In his speech, Netanyahu faulted the Palestinian Authority for the failure of peace efforts, and called on Abbas to return to the negotiations. He urged the U.N. to support direct negotiations between the two parties and refrain from imposing solutions.

Sobelman is a special correspondent