Israel and the West face a common threat from “radical Islam,” Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi warned on Monday, likening it to Nazi Germany in remarks at the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem.
Halevi, a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, described Islamist movements as a “murderous ideology” driven by religious doctrine, accusing the Islamic Republic of Iran of killing tens of thousands of its own citizens and seeking regional domination through terrorist proxies in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. He also criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Drawing repeated comparisons to the 1930s, Halevi said Western governments risk repeating the mistakes of pre-World War II appeasement, accusing them of failing to recognize the nature of the threat. He took aim at ongoing U.S. engagement with the Iranian regime, singling out Vice President JD Vance for talks in Switzerland with Iran, warning that “repeating the same mistake twice turns a mistake into a crime.”
He also directed words toward U.S. President Donald Trump, telling him that “you are not fighting for Israel, Israel is fighting for you.”
Halevi argued that Israel is “on the front line of a global campaign,” fighting not only for itself but for Western capitals, and cautioned that the threat would spread beyond the Middle East if left unchecked.
