Former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz has called on the international community to join together to destroy the terror movement Daesh.

Addressing a Zionist Federation Gala Dinner on Sunday night, Mr Gantz said: "We must humiliate, actually, Daesh and what it stands for. Period. No concessions. If it takes a generation, it takes a generation."

Calling for a "joint force" to tackle Daesh in Syria and Iraq, he added that such a military grouping should wait until "the local coalitions are ready to go in. Otherwise, people from London, or from New Jersey, or from Sydney, Australia, or wherever they are coming from, they will be stuck there for the next 50 years."

Mr Gantz also said that Daesh was "trying to impose values on us. We should preserve our values - human rights, and all those things we believe in. You cannot give up on those just because you are fighting something that is evil."

Mr Gantz indicated that he was in favour of providing support to moderate Iranians following the recent election in which many of the most hardline members of the Guardian Council - the panel that appoints the country's Supreme Leader - lost their seats.

He said: "I suggest we reach out to the Iranian people. Look at the election in Iran, more than 50 per cent were leaning to the more moderate side. We have nothing against them."