Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu calls Iran nuclear deal 'historic mistake'
November 24, 2013 -- Updated 0949 GMT (1749 HKT)
Obama reacts to Iran nuclear deal
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Israeli official: The celebration is based on "Iranian deception" and "world self-delusion"
- John Kerry says the U.S. and Israel agree that Iran must not be allowed to have a nuke
- The countries once enjoyed a "honeymoon"
- Last week, Iran's supreme leader said Israeli officials "cannot be even called humans"
(CNN) -- While the EU and the United States cheered a deal that world powers reached with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions, Israel was fierce in its criticism Sunday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the agreement a "historic mistake" that his country isn't bound by.
"What was achieved last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement, it is a historic mistake," Netanyahu said in a statement Sunday morning. "This agreement and its significance there of threatens many countries and of course Israel among them. Israel is not obliged to the agreement."
His ministers went much farther in their criticism.
"If in five years, a nuclear suitcase explodes in New York or Madrid," Naftali Bennett, the Israeli minister of trade and industry, said, "it will be because of the agreement that was signed this morning."
To be sure, there is no love lost between Iran and Israel: neighbors and archrivals.
Iran, which in the past has questioned Israel's right to even exist, continues to push Tel Aviv's buttons with incendiary statements.
Israel, which says it has the most to lose if Iran develops a nuclear bomb, has repeatedly warned the West to tread warily when dealing with Tehran.
So to find that their greatest ally, the United States, has struck an interim deal with Iran prompted stunned Israeli lawmakers.
"Israel cannot participate in the international celebration, which is based on Iranian deception and the world self-delusion," Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said.
All three lawmakers stopped short of saying whether Israel would go it alone militarily, if the need arose.
But Israeli officials told CNN's Ian Lee they would not rule out a strike against Iran -- and Netanyahu certainly didn't mince words. Israel bombed a reactor construction site in Iraq in 1981.
"The regime in Iran is dedicated to destroying Israel and Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself with it's own forces against every threat," he said. "I want to make clear as the Prime minister of Israel, Israel will not let Iran develop a nuclear military capability."
Obama to call Netanyahu
The heightened rhetoric means President Barack Obama has his work cut out for him in appeasing its staunchest ally in the Middle East.
"You can be sure that President Obama will speak to Prime Minister Netanyahu" on Sunday, a senior administration official told reporters.
"Ultimately, we understand why Israel is particularly skeptical about Iran," the official said, adding, "This is not simply about trusting the Iranian government. There are strict verification measures."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said as the deal was announced in Geneva that Israel and the United States agree that Iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
But Kerry said none of the world powers represented in Geneva believe that unrelenting sanctions can achieve that goal. He said the deal will make Israel safer by freezing some Iranian nuclear development and removing its stockpile of uranium enriched to 20% purity.
Kerry also said military action, while still an option Obama would preserve, could not permanently solve the problem.
Israel's perspective
It's hard for most Americans to understand why all Israeli prime ministers are said to sleep with one eye open, says Aaron David Miller of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He was a Middle East negotiator in Democratic and Republican administrations.
America, he says, has "non-predatory neighbors to its north and south and fish to its east and west."
Israel, on the other hand, is a small Jewish state surrounded by atagonistic Muslim neighbors.
Israel cannot participate in the international celebration, which is based on Iranian deception and the world self-delusion.
Israeli intelligence minister
Israeli intelligence minister
"I don't think Iran wants nuclear weapons to launch a first strike against Israel. But it's impossible to ignore, let alone trivialize, Israeli security concerns and vulnerabilities in this regard, particularly in the face of Iran's rhetoric, regional ambitions and support for terrorism over the years," he said.
Indeed, the verbal attacks have been relentless.
Even as the P5+1 met in Geneva, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei unleashed another volley last week in Tehran.
Khamenei said Israeli officials "cannot be even called humans" and referred to Netanyahu as "the rabid dog of the region."
Once a 'honeymoon'
What is forgotten in this tense relationship is that it wasn't always this way.
After the birth of the nation of Israel in 1948, the countries enjoyed a "honeymoon" that lasted until just before the 1979 Islamic revolution, David Menashri, professor emeritus of Tel Aviv University, told CNN last year.
Israel's ties with Iran were chiefly motivated by "a single word with three letters -- O-I-L," he said.
But the Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran marked a turning point.
The Islamic republic, led by Shiite clerics in the predominantly Shiite nation, saw Israel as an illegitimate state with no right to exist, certainly not amid Muslim nations.
Despite harsh rhetoric, though, then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini "didn't want to get into a confrontation with Israel," said Ervand Abrahamian, a professor of Iranian and Middle Eastern history at Baruch College of the City University of New York.
One reason: Israel and Iran had a common enemy in Iraq, a country that fought an eight-year war with Iran. Israel even supplied weapons to Iran to help it fight.
In the years after the Iran-Iraq war, however, Israel began to regard Iran and its support of global terror as a chief threat.
And it watched uneasily as Iran has gained influence in the Middle East since the first Gulf War began eroding Iraq's power.
Those concerns escalated when international inspectors found traces of highly enriched uranium at a power plant in Iran in 2003.
In the escalating conflict, the United States has always said it has, in the words of Obama last year, "Israel's back."
"The United States has no stake in concluding an agreement with Iran that leaves Israel angry, aggrieved and vulnerable. So, the two sides will find a way to work this through,"Miller said. "But for now, buckle your seat belts. We could be in for one bumpy ride."
CNN's Michael Schwartz and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.
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