(CNN) -- A new document by Iran's
supreme leader calling for the elimination of Israel shows that world powers
must not rush into a deal on the country's nuclear program despite an upcoming
deadline, Israel's Prime Minister said Monday.
"There is no moderation in Iran. It is unrepentant, unreformed, it
calls for Israel's eradication, it promotes international terrorism,"
Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. "This
terrorist regime in Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear threshold
power. And I call on the P5+1 countries -- don't rush into a deal that would
let Iran rush to the bomb." (The P5+1 refers to the United States, China,
Russia, Britain, France and Germany -- the five permanent members of the U.N.
Security Council, plus Germany.)
Iran insists it only wants
nuclear energy. And Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while calling for the elimination
of Israel, said he opposes "a massacre of the Jewish people in this
region." Instead, he seeks a
referendum. But in the meantime, "armed resistance is the cure," he
says, calling for the West Bank to be "armed like Gaza." The call reflects internal Palestinian
politics as well. Iran supports Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza.
Hamas' rival faction, Fatah, controls the West Bank. On Sunday, the government in
the West Bank accused Hamas of bombing its leaders' homes. Israelis were stabbed in two
"terrorist" incidents Monday, leaving one woman dead, police said.
Annihilation call made through
Twitter
The Iranian leader made his call
for Israel to be "annihilated" on Twitter over the weekend. Mixed in
with tweets insisting that Iran is committed to diplomacy on other issues,
Khamenei posted a series of tweets slamming Israel. Among them was a document
called "9 key questions about elimination of Israel." While he and other Iranian leaders have
spoken similarly of Israel in the past, the one-page document, packed with
specific details, was new. It says the "proper way of
eliminating Israel" is for "all the original people of Palestine
including Muslims, Christians and Jews wherever they are, whether inside
Palestine, in refugee camps in other countries or just anywhere else, take part
in a public and organized referendum."
The "Jewish immigrants who have been persuaded into emigration to
Palestine do not have the right to take part," he adds. It's unclear who Khamenei thinks the
"original people of Palestine" are, given that the region's history
dates back thousands of years and includes countless waves of immigration and
exile.
A June poll by the Washington Institute found that most Palestinians in
Gaza oppose a two-state solution and want to work toward abolishing Israel -- a
goal that is in line with Hamas' charter. A July poll by the Dialog Institute
found that most Israelis support a two-state solution, Haaretz reported. ISIS affects U.S.-Iran relations
U.S. President Barack Obama
recently sent a letter to Khamenei about cooperating in the fight against ISIS,
the terror group that calls itself the Islamic State. Revelations about the
letter have raised questions over whether Obama's stance on Iran is
softening. U.S. officials insist
Washington is not coordinating military actions with Tehran.
"There is some
deconflicting, in the sense that since they have some troops or militias they
control in and around Baghdad," Obama told CBS' "Face the
Nation" on Sunday. "We let them know, 'Don't mess with us. We're not
here to mess with you.' We're focused on our common enemy. But there's no
coordination or common battle plan. And there will not be."
"We still have big differences
with Iran's behavior vis-a-vis our allies, them poking and prodding at -- and
creating unrest and sponsoring terrorism in the region, around the world, their
anti-Israeli rhetoric and behavior," Obama added. "So, that's a whole
'nother set of issues which prevents us from ever being true allies."
Tensions between Obama and
Netanyahu are widely reported. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden sought to refute
them Monday. "Like all close
friends, we talk honestly with one another. We talk directly with one another.
We disagree with one another. We love one another, and we drive one another
crazy," he said in a speech to the Jewish Federations of North
America. "We will not let Iran
acquire a nuclear weapon, period," he added.
The deadline for the current
round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 is November 24. Obama
left it unclear Sunday whether a deal will be struck by then.
"The question now is: Are we
going to be able to close this final gap, so that they can re-enter the
international community, sanctions can be slowly reduced, and we have
verifiable, lock-tight assurances that they can't develop a nuclear weapon?
There's still a big gap. We may not be able to get there."
CNN's Mike Pearson contributed to
this report.
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