TEL AVIV, August 30, 2009 (WAFA)- Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu slams Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon’s comparison of Peace Now to a virus, says he will never use that term again. 

Ya'alon, told a closed-door meeting of far-right activists a few weeks ago that he was 'not afraid of the Americans' and that anti-settlement groups like Peace Now were 'viruses' to Israel,

Netanyahu told Radio Israel that he found those remarks unacceptable. 'I've discussed the matter with minister Ya'alon and he made it clear to me that that was not his intention. I assume he will never use that term again.'

'The Left is not a virus, settlers are not a cancer. We have legitimate disagreements, but we must maintain our unity by respecting our political adversaries.'