JERUSALEM (JTA) — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a right to speak out about the Iranian nuclear threat in front of the U.S. Congress.

“I deeply admire Prime Minister Netanyahu for speaking out on this issue, but he honestly has no choice,” Giuliani said Monday in Jerusalem. “If someone threatens to kill you, you simply don’t give them the gun to do it unless there’s something wrong with you.”

Giuliani, who is in Israel to address a business conference in Herzliya, said that Israel has strong support in the United States.

He added, “If there is going to be any agreement with Iran, then it must be based upon the fact that Iran not be allowed the possibility of obtaining a nuclear arsenal.”

Netanyahu is scheduled to speak March 3 before the Congress on the Iranian nuclear threat, two weeks before national elections in Israel. He was invited by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), irritating the White House over a lack of protocol in failing to communicate the invitation.

The Israeli leader is expected to argue that President Barack Obama’s desire to see a negotiated settlement is not enough of a deterrent and to call for increased sanctions on the Islamic Republic, which Obama is against while world powers and Iran are holding talks.