Iranian Foreign Minister accuses Israel of being the biggest nuclear threat to humanity, says Netanyahu distorts history.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blasted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and accused the State of Israel of being "the greatest nuclear threat to the international community" Thursday night.

Zarif accused Netanyahu of distorting history in comparing modern day Iran to the situation faced by the Jewish people in ancient Persia as told in the biblical Book of Esther. Over 2000 years ago, the Persian king's anti-Semitic advisor, Haman, convinced the monarch to allow all the Jews in the kingdom to be murdered, but his Jewish queen, Esther and her relative Mordecai, managed to avert the evil decree. The Purim holiday is celebrated in honor of that miraculous salvation.

"Today, too, those who live in Persia are tryinrg to destroy usrToday, too, they will not succeed," Netanyahu said at a Megillah (Book of Esther) reading in Caesarea's central synagogue Saturday night, the beginning of the Purim holiday.

"The books are about how the Persians saved the Jews, and everybody knows it," Zarif said. "[Netanyahu] uses every opportunity in an attempt to make us the enemy."

"Israel violates Palestinian rights every day, and is the biggest nuclear threat not only in the region, but in the world," Zarif declared. "Israel has committed many crimes all over the place over the years, and it tries to cover up these crimes by trying to make Iran look bad."