Netanyahu cartoon: Iran ‘just much bigger’ IS

Undaunted by the awkward failure of a previous propaganda cartoon, Israeli authorities had another crack at animation with a short clip released Tuesday that aimed to draw similarities between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic State Group.

The video, just 28 seconds long, was published on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s social media pages Tuesday and argued that allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons would be even worse than giving nukes to the jihadist IS group — also known as ISIS — that has rampaged across Iraq and Syria brutally murdering opponents in its path.

Drawn in two-dimensional simplistic style, the cartoon shows a group of gun-toting Islamic State militants driving in a Humvee as they joyfully squash Americans, Christians, homosexuals, and Jews in a blood-splattering trip through a desert setting.

A narrator explains that “Islamic State sweeps through the Middle East killing anyone who isn’t exactly like them.”

“Imagine how dangerous Islamic State would be if it had armored divisions, fighter jets and ballistic missiles. Imagine Islamic State building atomic bombs,” the video continues and then plays up Iran’s full national title, calling it the “Islamic State of Iran” instead of “Republic.”

“Well, maybe it’s not that hard to imagine,” the narrator says, and finishes with the punchline slogan, “The Islamic State of Iran. Like ISIS. Just much bigger.”

Although the video juxtaposes the intolerant attitudes of Iran and IS it does not note that the two Islamic bodies are deeply divided over sectarian ideology. Whereas Iran is Shiite, the Islamic State is Sunni. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, has been engaged in fierce battles against IS in Syria and Iraq.

Two weeks ago the Foreign Ministry quickly withdrew a similar-styled cartoon clip that poked fun at journalists reporting from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip by suggesting they fail to see terror activities that are happening right beside them. After an angry backlash by foreign media personnel, the video was taken down.

The latest cartoon offering debuted on the day that negotiators from Iran and six world powers agreed to extend high-stakes nuclear talks for seven days after failing to come to a deal by a June 30 deadline.

Netanyahu is vehemently opposed to the emerging deal, warning it doesn’t go far enough to prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons.

“No one would dream of allowing the Islamic State to have nukes,” he said earlier in the day, before the extension was announced. “Why would anyone let the more powerful Islamic state of Iran have nukes?”

Western powers have been engaged in a 20-month process to assure the world Iran cannot produce nuclear weapons and provide the Iranian people a path of out of years of international isolation. But officials said over the weekend they were nowhere near a final accord.

Associated Press and AFP contributed to this report.