Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet in Washington Wednesday with US President Barack Obama – in their first meeting in seven months.
Netanyahu will talk to Obama about the current tensions between Israel the Palestinian Authority, and is also expected to ask Obama not to cooperate with Iran as part of the campaign against the Islamic State (aka ISIS), reports IDF Radio.
Iran is ready to work with the United States and its allies to stop Islamic State terrorists, but would like to see more flexibility on Iran’s uranium enrichment program, senior Iranian officials told Reuters.
Netanyahu arrived in the United States Monday and gave a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. He criticized the international community and claimed that it had been hypocritical when it criticized Israel for its war on Hamas, at the same time as it was taking action against ISIS.
“ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree,” he said. “When it comes to their ultimate goals, Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas. And what they share in common, all militant Islamists share in common.”
He also accused Palestinian Authority chief Mahmou Abbas of complicity in Hamas's war crimes.
Netanyahu displayed a photograph showing children playing next to two Hamas rocket launchers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a war crime,” he said. “And I say to President Abbas, these are the war crimes committed by your Hamas partners in the national unity government which you head and you are responsible for. And these are the real war crimes you should have investigated, or spoken out against from this podium last week.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, As Israeli children huddled in bomb shelters and Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system knocked Hamas rockets out of the sky, the profound moral difference between Israel and Hamas couldn’t have been clearer: Israel was using its missiles to protect its children. Hamas was using its children to protect its missiles.”