Threats to Israel dwarfed by prospect of nuclear neighbour, says Netanyahu

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said most threats to his country’s security are “dwarfed” by the prospect of Iran obtaining nuclear weaponry, which local media reports charged Tehran had stepped up its efforts to achieve.

The comments at a cabinet meeting and the front-page reports in the liberal Haaretz, a frequent Netanyahu critic, and in the conservative, pro-government Israel Hayom came as debate intensifies about whether to go to war against Iran over its disputed atomic projects.

The debate seems to defy appeals by US president Barack Obama to allow more time for international diplomacy.

Tehran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful and has threatened wide-ranging reprisals if attacked.

In comments also broadcast live by Israeli media, Mr Netanyahu said “all the threats currently being directed against the Israeli home front are dwarfed by another threat, different in scope, different in substance”.

He said: “Therefore I say again, that Iran must not be permitted to obtain nuclear weapons.”

Mr Netanyahu also said Israel was “investing billions in home-front defence”, and holding emergency drills, alluding to a military exercise being held this week in cities across Israel to test a text-message warning system against missile strikes.

Israel’s central bank has also drilled “big crisis” scenarios such as war with Iran, the bank’s governor, Stanley Fischer, told an Israeli TV station at the weekend.