ANKARA (AA)
Netanyahu gave the BBC an interview on Wednesday during a trip to Britain, where he attended the funeral of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and met with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Netanyahu was discussing the deteriorating security situation in Syria on BBC World News when the interviewer asked whether Israel is arming any of the rebel groups. Netanyahu said he could not confirm such speculation but did not deny it.
"We are very careful," Netanyahu said and added "I have said that the arming of rebels presents the question of which rebels and which arms, and it is a very complicated question for every country, including my country Israel."
Netanyahu underlined, "There are the worst Islamist radicals in the world, so obviously we are concerned that weapons that are ground breaking, that can change the balance of power in the Middle East would fall into the hands of these terrorists."
"I'm sure the leaders of Syria, whatever is left of Syria, understand that Israel will always take action against those who attack it," and added, "The question is, do the terrorists who operate in Syria understand that?"
Netanyahu underlined Israel's growing concern over the rising strength of Islamist groups operating in Syria and the risk that "very, very dangerous weapons" such as anti-aircraft and chemical weapons could fall into their hands.
Netanyahu gave few details about his meeting with David Cameron, saying only that Israel and Britain "see eye to eye" about preventing further bloodshed in Syria. "It's a complicated picture because you have bad fighting the bad," he said.
- The Issue on Iran -
Netanyahu told the BBC correspondent that the Iran had not surpassed the threshold of enriching enough uranium to move quickly towards a bomb, "They've sort of crept up but not crossed it."
Asked whether President Obama had given Israel what is often referred to as a "green light" to act militarily on Iran, Netanyahu answered, "Israel's right to defend its existence is not subject to a traffic light."
