Israel’s Netanyahu calls for ‘NATO-style alliance’ in Middle East to counter Iran

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a “NATO-style” military alliance in the Middle East to counter Iran and its influence, in a revived Israeli effort to gather newly-friendly regional states under its leadership and within its sphere of influence.

Speaking at the United States’ Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu urged for the creation of a regional alliance in the Middle East which should include countries that “have made peace with Israel and those that will make peace with Israel”, with the joint aim of confronting Iran’s influence.

Stating that the alliance “would be a security coalition in every sense of the word,” Netanyahu envisioned it as “an extension of the groundbreaking Abraham Accords,” referring to the normalisation of diplomatic relations with Israel by various Arab states over the past few years, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. He suggested that such a pact be named the “Abraham Alliance”.

During his address to US Congress, Netanyahu gave the example of Iran’s firing of hundreds of missiles toward Israel, which was rapidly countered by not only Tel Aviv and American forces, but also with the help of regional states such as Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The region already “saw a glimpse of that alliance” on that night, the Israeli premier said.

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