Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During remarks at the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his concern over what he sees as the major threats to regional stability.

“The problem in the Middle East is Iran’s attempt to build nuclear weapons, and the chemical weapons in Syria and the Islamic extremism that is spreading in Africa and threatening to inundate the entire region.”

“I told them that history will not forgive those who allow Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons. This was, and remains, the main mission facing not only myself and the State of Israel, but the US as well,” Netanyahu reported as having told visiting U.S. senators.

Netanyahu’s remarks were part of an effort to elaborate on the issues discussed during a meeting held Saturday with the U.S. senators. The meeting  included John McCain (R-AZ), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Christopher Coons (D-DE).

Netanyahu also addressed a recent phone conversation with French President Francois Hollande, who last week authorized military operations in the African country of Mali in order to stall the advancement of Islamic extremists there.

“I commended him on his brave step in dispatching soldiers to fight radical Islamic terrorism in Africa. I also said there is a difference, that this terrorism is thousands of kilometers away from Paris, but with us, it is only a few hundred meters away from our communities. But it is the same terrorism and the same war,” Netanyahu said.