Netanyahu: Israel prevents Middle East’s ‘collapse’ to Islamic extremism

In a meeting with US Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is the sole power in the region preventing the triumph of extremist Islamic forces.

“I just had a visit with a delegation of journalists from Arab countries. With the exception of one, none of them have formal relations with us,” he says, according to quotes released by his office. “They talk about how so many in the Arab world want to have peace with Israel, normalization with Israel, want to come to Israel. They’re not always free to express it, and there’s always opposition from those who want to take us back, but they expressed that desire.”

He says he’s “working on that, a little bit publicly and a very great deal behind the scenes, to strengthen these ties.”

And he adds: “But within the region, and this is what I told them, within the region, Israel is the irreplaceable power, because there is no other power within the region without whose presence and activity here, I would say the region would collapse. Without Israel, without the things that we do and the things that we stand for and the things that we protect, I think the entire Middle East would collapse to the forces of Islamic radicalism, whether Shiite led by Iran or Sunni radicalism led by Daesh.”