The Arizona senator warned that Israel's armed foes threatened not only the Jewish state but also U.S. interests and everything the West holds dear.
In an interview with the Jerusalem Post published on Wednesday, he said Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, and Lebanon's Hizbullah, both threaten the interests of the United States and the West in general.
"If Hamas, Hizbullah succeed here, they are going to succeed everywhere," he said.
"They are dedicated to the extinction of everything that the U.S., Israel and the West believe and stand for," he said.
"So America does have an interest in what happens here, far above and beyond our alliance with the State of Israel," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee added.
McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, also indicated support for Israel's military response to rocket attacks launched from Gaza.
In a further signal of solidarity with Israel, McCain has said he supported the state's claim to Jerusalem as its capital, which the international community rejects.
McCain, who touts his foreign affairs experience over that of his Democratic rivals, was in Jerusalem at the head of a congressional tour that also took him to Iraq and Jordan.
He has insisted the trip was not political, though he clearly stood to gain from being seen on the world stage at a time when Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton brawled at home.
During his trip he conveyed strong support for Israel, a country he has visited several times in the past.
Asked about almost daily rocket attacks launched from Gaza, McCain said that if the United States found itself in a similar situation, "the American people would probably demand pretty vigorous actions in response."
The senator also called Iran "a threat for the region," expressing certainty Tehran was "pursuing nuclear weapons."
McCain arrived in Israel on Tuesday evening after a visit to Jordan, where he said he supported "Jerusalem as the capital of Israel."
Israel annexed Arab east Jerusalem after the 1967 Middle East war and declared it part of its eternal undivided capital, a claim not recognized by the international community.
The fate of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and renewed Israeli settlement activity in the occupied eastern part is hampering peace talks revived only in November.
The Palestinians, who want to make east Jerusalem the capital of their promised state, said McCain's statements contradicted the two-state solution to the Middle East conflict laid out by U.S. President George Bush.
McCain was to tour Israel by helicopter with Defense Minister Ehud Barak to acquaint himself with the country's security problems, and hold talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
Sources: Naharnet, AP
Tags: Hamas, Hezbollah, Israel, Jewish Lobby, John McCain, Presidential Elections, US
