Today (Monday), a day after taking office, newly appointed Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar held a briefing for foreign media with the participation of dozens of reporters from the main media outlets in the international media.
"The most important issue by far for the future of this region and the security of the State of Israel is to avoid Iran getting a nuclear weapon. "President Trump made it clear during the time of his electoral campaign that he understands very well the dangers of that nuclear Iranian project," Sa'ar said.
"I am sure that we will be able to work together with the US in order to stabilize the region, in order to guarantee the future of the region. Nuclear capabilities, a nuclear weapon for Iran will be a danger, not only to Israel. Iran attacks other neighbors, attacked the Saudis, for example. Iran is directly connected, financing, and instructing and responsible for so many terror organizations, some of them became terror states in the region. So to think about nuclear weapons in the hands of this regime is extremely dangerous to the peace of the world and the peace of this region - that's the number one issue from the point of view of the State of Israel. It is a consistent American position of all the administrations that Iran won't have [a] nuclear weapon," he added.
He continued, "There is some progress in the attempts to reach a settlement in Lebanon. We are working with the Americans on the issue. We can be there when we know that Hezbollah is not on our border, that it is north of the Litani River, and that Hezbollah will not be able to re-arm itself with new weapon systems through Syria, from the sea, from the airport, in any way. Our main challenge will be to enforce what is agreed upon. We will insist on all issues related to Israel's national security. We want to bring our citizens home safely. I hope that the change in the balance of power in Lebanon will bring Lebanon into a new era, but that is not our role. Lebanon belongs to the Lebanese people, not to Iran. We will make sure that Hezbollah does not pose a threat to Israel. The international community can guarantee the future of Lebanon as a free country, as a sovereign country, not as an extension of Iran - and I am sure that the majority of the Lebanese people do not want to be an Iranian extension."
In response to the question of whether the Foreign Minister supports the establishment of a Palestinian state, Foreign Minister Sa'ar replied: "In one word: no. To elaborate, today, everyone understands the reality. Everyone understands today that the two huge moves that Israel took in the past, the Oslo Accords in the 1990s and the unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip a decade later, not only did not bring peace, but as we have seen, deteriorated our security. And this is something that Israelis understand very well today. The establishment of a Palestinian state today would be the establishment of a Hamas state. We saw that it took a year after we withdrew from the Gaza Strip for Hamas to take control of Gaza. We do not want this to happen in Judea and Samaria. That's why I don't think this position is realistic and we have to be realistic."
Addressing last week's antisemitic pogrom in Amsterdam, Sa'ar said that it took too long for the local police to restore order and that until this moment no significant arrests had been made for an event of this magnitude. "Israel offered to help the government of the Netherlands with collecting evidence. They accepted our offer. In the coming days we will have to find a way to implement this," he said.