Isaac Herzog. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Zionist Union party leader Isaac Herzog, who was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stiffest competition during last month’s Israeli election, said there is “no division” along political lines in Israel on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program.

Herzog said Sunday that the recently reached framework nuclear deal between Iran and world powers poses “real potential risks in the long term.” He said the U.S. and Israel should reach an understanding that would “legitimize any action Israel will be forced to take to defend itself in the situation that is created.”

“Israel and the U.S. must reach a strategic understanding that takes into account Israel’s security needs,” said Herzog. “We are committed to a determined, all-out fight to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and continue to give full support to this cause. … In this matter, there is no division between the coalition and the opposition.”

Responding to a remark by President Barack Obama that he has not offered a viable alternative to the framework agreement, Netanyahu on Sunday offered what he called “the two main components of the alternative to this bad deal.”

“First, instead of allowing Iran to preserve and develop its nuclear capabilities, a better deal would significantly roll back these capabilities—for example, by shutting down the illicit underground facilities that Iran concealed for years from the international community,” Netanyahu said. “Second, instead of lifting the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear facilities and program at a fixed date, a better deal would link the lifting of these restrictions to an end of Iran’s aggression in the region, its worldwide terrorism, and its threats to annihilate Israel.”