According to a new poll, Israel poses the biggest threat to world peace, ahead of rogue nations like North Korea, as well as beating Iran, Pakistan and Syria to the top of the list.

The opinion poll conducted by Berlin-based Infratest/Dimap institute on April 17th and 18th, saw nearly 48 percent of the 1,000 participants say that they regard Israel as a serious threat to world peace and global security.

According to the poll results, which were released today, 22 percent of the respondents maintained that Iran and Israel are equal threats to world peace. Eighteen percent of the people surveyed said Iran poses a more serious threat to world peace than Israel.

Israel has been criticised recently for its strong stance towards Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently threatening to "act independently" if negotiations between the West and Iran fail. Middle East monitor, quoting a newspaper said that Netanyahu see's that the "best scenario" would be for the Americans to do the job, "but if it became clear" to his government that there would be no results from the international efforts, "we will have no choice but to do what is necessary to protect the Jewish people and the population of the State of Israel."

12 percent of the respondents in the opinion poll said they had no opinion on the issue of Iran.

Recently, German Nobel literature laureate Gunter Grass published a poem calling Israel a threat to world peace and criticizing Western hypocrisy over Israel’s nuclear arsenal in April.

In the poem, entitled "What Must Be Said," which was published in Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung, Grass expressed concern over the consequences of Israel’s plan to attack Iran.