Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Rwanda, Olivier Nduhungirehe.
The ministers first held a private meeting, followed by an expanded meeting with their respective delegations. At the start of the expanded meeting, the two ministers delivered joint statements to the media.
The ministers also signed an Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Education, including vocational training and professional capacity-building, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding to promote cooperation with Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV).
During his remarks to the media, Foreign Minister Sa’ar addressed the recent statements made by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
“I must address the appalling remarks made a few days ago by Turkey’s Foreign Minister, the Foreign Minister of the country that will host tomorrow’s NATO Summit. He said of the Jewish state: ‘These people have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear.’ This is a sentence that sounds very familiar to sentences from about 100 years ago. To speak about a people as a ‘problem for humanity.’ What do you do with a ‘burden that you can no longer bear?’" Sa'ar pondered.
"These words are a clear call for genocide, he declared.
Sa'ar added: "The Jewish people know very well what happens when such words are allowed to go unchallenged. The first step on the road to genocide is dehumanisation."