Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, in an interview with the Canadian television network Kan, said, “The Islamic Republic must be overthrown,” but he believes it is unlikely that this will happen before Israel’s election on 5 Aban.

In response to the question of whether the Islamic Republic will fall before Israel’s election, he said: “No, I don’t think that’s something realistic.”

Netanyahu added: “This government must go. As long as it is in power, it will be pursuing the destruction of Israel. Either us or them. I will do what I can to make them fall, not us.”

The Israeli prime minister also, while referring to his close ties with Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that he speaks with him regularly and added: “Usually I don’t talk about the content of private conversations, but I can say that he certainly understands the threat posed by this government.”

He also said that his relationship with Trump will be of great importance in the remaining two years of his presidential term, and raised the question of whether Gadi Eisenkot, his political rival, could cooperate effectively with Trump to the same extent.