Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) that a nuclear-armed Iran is more dangerous than ISIS. Photo: Amos Ben Gershom, GPO

JNS.org – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (D-LA) that a nuclear-armed Iran is a “thousand times” more dangerous than the threats posed by the Islamic State.

In his meeting with Cassidy, Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s position on the Iran nuclear deal as a “very bad” one and said that the world powers should not “rush” into a deal for the sake of it.

“I see no reason to rush to a deal, and certainly not a bad deal that paves Iran’s path to the bomb, but also fills Iran’s coffers with tens of billions of dollars to pursue its aggression throughout the Middle East and around Israel’s borders,” Netanyahu said.

At the same time, Netanyahu said that the threat of the Islamic State, or ISIS, is nothing compared to a terrorist state with nuclear weapons.

“I will say this: ISIS is in the news. Its murderous actions are horrific,” he said.

Netanyahu added that “as horrific as ISIS is, once Iran, the preeminent terrorist state of our time, acquires nuclear weapons, it will be a hundred times more dangerous, a thousand times more dangerous and more destructive than ISIS.”

Freshman Senator Bill Cassidy defeated Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu in a runoff election last year. Prior to being elected to the Senate, Cassidy served in the U.S. House of Representatives where he supported a $2 million bill on American-Israeli cooperation in the energy sector.