Gideon Saar on Moshe Yaalon, Syria, and the ICC

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar spoke today (Sunday) at the Israel Hayom conference on some of the burning issues for Israel internationally.

Addressing former IDF Chief of Staff and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon's accusations that Israel is committing "ethnic cleansing" in the Gaza Strip, Saar said that this statement was "reckless and irresponsible." Saar said that Yaalon's statement was already causing great harm to Israel on social media and that he hopes he "pulls himself together" and recants.

Regarding the threat presented by the ICC warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu, which prevent him from visiting those countries, Saar said that it is already possible to see that this danger is weakening, with countries like France and Holland agreeing to grant Netanyahu immunity and most importantly - the voices coming from Republicans in Washington against the ICC.

Regarding the recent offensives in Syria, Saar said that the war was a choice between "Shiite Jihadists" and "Sunni Jihadists" and as such "there is no good side." Furthermore, Saar does not envision a situation where Assad has complete control over the whole country.

The Foreign Minister said that he believed it to be an Israeli interest to have a Syria which is federalized, where the Druze and Kurd minorities have autonomy, with an emphasis on helping the Kurds.