The Etzion settler bloc, which lies southwest of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, is an "integral part" of Greater Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.

"Efrat and Gush Etzion are an integral, basic and understood part of Greater Jerusalem," Netanyahu said while visiting Efrat settlement, in remarks relayed by his bureau.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his country would launch a strike against Lebanon if Hizbullah provoked Tel Aviv.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday that a western diplomat conveyed Netanyahu’s message to the Lebanese government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a visiting U.S. congressman on Friday that Iran was speeding up its quest for nuclear weapons in defiance of international sanctions.

"Just yesterday, we received additional proof of the fact that Iran is continuing to make accelerated progress toward achieving nuclear weapons while totally ignoring international demands," Netanyahu's office quoted him as telling Republican Congressman Mike Rogers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday strongly condemned a brutal hate attack on young Palestinians last week in Jerusalem, describing it as a combination of "racism and violence."

"In the state of Israel we will not tolerate racism nor the combination of racism and violence," he said in remarks relayed by his office.

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu has sent an aide to meet Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of ultra-orthodox party Shas, to win his backing for an attack on Iran, Israeli media said on Tuesday.

Yaakov Amidror, head of the National Security Council, visited Yosef, whose party is a member of Netanyahu's ruling coalition, at his home in Jerusalem on Friday to discuss the issue, Israeli media reports said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday that he would be making "a big mistake" if he attended an international summit in Iran.

"Mr. Secretary General, you do not belong in Tehran," a statement from Netanyahu's office quoted the premier as telling Ban in a telephone conversation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday expressed regret over the deaths of 16 Egyptian guards in an attack on Sunday by gunmen on the border with Israel, his office said in a statement.

It said that he was speaking during a visit with Defense Minister Ehud Barak to the site where five attackers crashed across the frontier in an armored vehicle into the Jewish state, where they were killed by Israeli forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he had not yet made any decision about a possible attack against Iran but reaffirmed his country's right to defend itself.

"I have not taken a decision" on any attack against Iranian nuclear facilities, Netanyahu said in response to a question during an interview with the private television Channel 2.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that international sanctions have so far made no impact on Iran's nuclear program and that a "strong and credible" military threat was needed.

"We have to be honest and say that all the sanctions and diplomacy so far have not set back the Iranian program by one iota," he said on meeting White House hopeful Mitt Romney.

White House hopeful Mitt Romney on Sunday held top-level talks in Israel about how to handle fears over Iran's nuclear ambitions, on a visit aimed at burnishing his foreign policy credentials.

"Like you, we are very concerned about the development of nuclear capabilities on the part of Iran and feel it is unacceptable for Iran to become a nuclear armed nation," Romney told reporters on meeting President Shimon Peres.