Bennett: Sign with Iran today, make deal with Islamic State tomorrow

The same world powers that reached an accord with Iran over its nuclear program will soon cut a deal with the Islamic State group, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday.

Bennett’s comments were the latest in a series of attacks on last week’s by Israeli officials, who oppose it on the grounds that it won’t prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon and will send tens of billions of dollars into the Iranian coffers with the lifting of sanctions.

“Those who make deals today with Iran, tomorrow with make deals with the Islamic State,” Bennett said.

Four of the six world powers that reached the deal with Iran — the US, Britain, Germany and France — are part of a coalition of some 60 countries battling IS fighters in Iraq and Syria.

Speaking at a conference marking the 10-year anniversary of Israel’s pullout from Gaza, Bennett, who leads the pro-settler Jewish Home party, linked the evacuation of the 21 Jewish settlements in the coastal enclave to the nuclear deal.

“In the dunes of Gush Katif, we left behind footprints, the footprints of escape,” Bennett said, referring to the bloc of Israeli settlements in Gaza. “It is this same path of escape that today made the world powers, the strongest in the world, to give into the international terror regime that is Iran.”

Speaking on Army Radio earlier Tuesday, Bennett rejected the interviewer’s proposition that Israel is trying to “recruit” members of Congress against the agreement.

“It is not our job to recruit or not to recruit them, but it is our job to do everything we can and sound our voices so that the agreement does not come to pass,” he said.

Bennett said preventing the deal was a “top national priority” for Israel.

Iran, Bennett said, has thousands of centrifuges and the ability to manufacture dozens of bombs. The language of the agreement, he added, is “full of holes” and as the days go by, the American media is “punching more holes in this agreement.”

The EU and UN Security Council approved the landmark agreement with Iran on Monday. A day earlier, the Obama administration submitted the deal to Congress for a 60-day review.

Bennett said keeping US sanctions against Tehran would be a useful diplomatic lever.

Even if European countries lift their sanctions, “the US economy is 40 times greater than Iran’s, and what would a French or Russian company do? Do business with America or with Iran?” he asked.

Bennett was referring to American measures not just against Iranian persons and entities but US sanctions against firms doing business with what is still considered a rogue regime.

“Even on their own, US sanctions have an excellent effect,” he said.