Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday brushed aside criticism from U.S. President Barack Obama of his speech to Congress, in which he warned Washington was paving the way to a nuclear-armed Iran.

The White House was infuriated by Netanyahu's address Tuesday to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, where he laid out Israeli concerns at an emerging world deal with Iran on its nuclear program.

Britain's advertising watchdog banned an Israeli government tourism advert for suggesting that the Old City of Jerusalem was part of Israel on Wednesday.

The newspaper brochure showed a panorama of the walled Old City with the text "Israel has it all", and was ruled misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which said it implied the UNESCO World Heritage Site was part of Israel.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that debate should begin next week on bipartisan legislation requiring President Barack Obama to submit any nuclear deal with Iran to Congress for its approval.

That debate could also open the door for consideration of new economic sanctions on the regime in Tehran, a move strongly opposed by the Obama administration amid ongoing international negotiations with Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's impassioned speech Tuesday in the U.S. Congress impressed many Israelis in Jerusalem but drew criticism from others who said he was interfering in American affairs.

Netanyahu delivered with gusto an address in which he chided Israel's arch-foe Iran and charged that a deal between the Islamic republic and world powers would allow it to develop nuclear weapons.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Tuesday that the deal being negotiated between world powers and Iran would leave Tehran free to develop nuclear weapons.

In an impassioned address to the U.S. Congress, conducted even as Secretary of State John Kerry was in nuclear talks in Switzerland with his Iranian counterpart, Netanyahu branded Iran a global threat.

Firebrand Arab Israeli lawmaker Hanin Zuabi was attacked by activists linked to the extreme rightwing Yahad party during a debate Tuesday near Tel Aviv, police and a political rival said.

The attack occurred during a cross-party debate on women's issues at a college in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, with a man in his 20s pouring a bottle of juice over Zuabi's head, police said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not forget to blast Hizbullah during his anti-Iran speech before the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, describing the Lebanese party and Tehran as a real threat to Israel's survival.

“For those who believe that Iran threatens the Jewish state, but not the Jewish people, listen to (Sayyed) Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah, Iran's chief terrorist proxy. He said: If all the Jews gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of chasing them down around the world,” Netanyahu said.

A top U.S. official Tuesday warned that the current tensions between traditional allies U.S. and Israel could last until the end of the Obama administration in 2016.

"There are moments of significant agreement and then there are moments of tactical disagreement," U.S. deputy secretary of state Antony Blinken told French radio station Europe 1.

Israel reportedly expressed readiness to increase tension along the border with Lebanon to block the road on Hizbullah's movement and expansion in Syria, in particular in the Golan Heights.

Western diplomatic sources quoted high-ranking Israeli officials as saying that the developments in the Golan are planned by the Islamic Republic of Iran and directly linked to the negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.

A senior Hamas military official said Monday his Palestinian Islamist group which controls Gaza is rebuilding its heavily depleted rocket arsenal in case of fresh conflict with Israel.

"Any regional or international attempt to lay siege to Hamas or its armed wing is bound to fail," said Marwan Eissa, a commander of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades armed wing.