You want fanatics to have nuclear weapons?

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized certain American columnists saying that they "set a new standard for human stupidity" for writing that a nuclear Iran may "stabilize the Middle East".

In interviews with CNN's State of the Nation and NBC's Meet the Press, both scheduled to be aired on Sunday, Netanyahu tried to rein in the flood of criticism expressed in American newspapers.

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In a segment from the interview which was published Saturday night ahead of the NBC interview, the prime minister was asked whether he believed a "containment strategy" would work on Iran, as was done with the Soviet Union in its time.

Netanyahu on Meet the Press

Netanyahu responded: "I think Iran is very different, they put their zealotry above survival, they have suicide bombers all over the place, I wouldn't rely on their rationality."

According to Netanyahu: "Since the advent of nuclear weapons you've had countries that have had access to nuclear weapons who always made a careful calculation of cost and benefit but Iran is guided by a leadership with an unbelievable fanaticism.

"It's the same fanaticism that you see storming your embassiestoday. You want these fanatics to have nuclear weapons?"

Netanyahu then responded to the slew of recent criticism expressed in US newspapers towards his plans for a military strikeon Iran: "I heard some people suggest…I actually read this in the American press, they said 'well you know if you take action that’s a lot worse than having Iran with nuclear weapons.'

"Some have even said that Iran with nuclear weapons would stabilize the Middle East. Stabilize the Middle East! I think that the people who say this set a new standard for human stupidity."

On Friday Defense Secretary Leon Panetta dismissed this week's public debate between US and Israeli leaders over whether the allies should set "red lines" that could trigger military action against Iran's nuclear program.

"The fact is, look, presidents of the United States, prime ministers of Israel or any other country – leaders of these countries don't have, you know, a bunch of little red lines that determine their decisions," Paneta told Foreign Policy Magazine.

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Original piece is http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4281893,00.html

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You want fanatics to have nuclear weapons?