PM's Israel speech will attack Iran

In the first speech by a British prime minister to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, he will vow that Iranian threats will not go unpunished.

He will describe Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threat to wipe Israel off the map as "abhorrent" and urge Tehran to halt its nuclear weapons programme.

The speech comes on the final day of his first visit to Jerusalem as Prime Minister and will see Mr Brown pledge to "stand beside" Israel through thick and thin.

His warm words for Israel come after he clashed with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday over his people's settlements in Palestinian territories.

But in his speech later today Mr Brown will cite his father's "lifelong affection" for the country and the influence it had upon him from a young age, adding: "For the whole of my life, I have counted myself a friend of your country."

And he will go on to insist that Britain and Israel stand together in the "fight for liberty".

"So to those who question Israel's very right to exist, and threaten the lives of its citizens through terror, we say: the people of Israel have a right to live here, to live freely and to live in security," he will tell Israeli MPs.

"And to those who believe that threatening statements fall upon deaf ears, we say in one voice - that it is totally abhorrent for the President of Iran to call for Israel to be wiped from the map of the world."

He will go on to pledge that the UK will continue to lead efforts to halt Iran's nuclear weapons programme.