Breaking Update
FM Sa’ar holds press conference with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen
Israeli FM Sa’ar criticizes PA at press conference with Danish Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, stating PA does not deserve statehood due to terrorism,
On the question of a Palestinian state, Minister Sa’ar said:
“The states that support statehood for the Palestinians now, ignore the most important facts that demonstrate that the PA does not deserve a state. Based on its actions – it doesn’t deserve a state.
In the Oslo agreements they said they would fight against terror. They have never done that. This is why we are doing that, including in Judea and Samaria. If you look at their jails in Ramallah and visit today, you will not find terrorists there. They promised to take care of security – they’ve never done that.
Second, they reward and encourage terrorism by the pay-for-slay doctrine. – by paying salaries for terrorists and terrorists’ families. They say they will change it, but they never did. They only change how they are doing it – like transferring it from one pocket to the other. But they never disconnected themselves from the ethos of terror in Palestinian society.
The third thing is the incitement. The incitement in the kindergartens, in schools, in textbooks. It’s terrible, and this is already poisoning the minds of the new generation. Without disconnecting from these two huge problems – incitement against Jews and Israel, and terrorism, you cannot build a reliable peace process. But some states ignore that.
I am very happy that Secretary Rubio with two different decisions recently put those issues on the table and said very openly – PA and the “PLO” are not meeting their obligations on those fundamental issues. It is really not serious to demand from Israel to speak about a Palestinian state or to give them a Palestinian state.
The reality in Judea and Samaria cannot be ignored. Demanding from Israel to risk its own future and security – is something that we simply will not do.”
Following is the full text of FM Sa’ar’s remarks:
“I welcome to Israel foreign minister of Denmark Lars Rasmussen. Lars is a man and a statement of dialogue. We usually have a good dialogue. It doesn’t mean we always agree on everything, but it’s always a good and productive conversation.
We decided together to have a joint team for cooperation on the humanitarian issue and to see what we can do together – among other things – on the medical evacuation of people from Gaza. And from our side, my Director General, Eden Bar-Tal, will be the POC.
With regard to the humanitarian situation as a whole, there is a big change on the ground that we emphasized in our meeting. It’s not something that you can find in Western media. But the facts are that we fulfilled all our understandings with the EU on the matter. And more than that – after we also started with the humanitarian corridors and airdrops, huge quantities entered to Gaza Strip, and that was reflected in the dramatic decline of the prices of products. And therefore, the situation today is totally different from what it was a few months ago.
The war in Gaza can end tomorrow morning with only two simple things: (1) The return of our hostages. We still have 48 hostages that were kidnapped from their homes on October 7th in Gaza Strip.
(2) And with Hamas laying down its arms.
And I emphasize the second thing, because it also guarantees the future of Gaza and the Palestinians, a different future released from the oppressive and terrorist regime of Hamas.
We will be more than happy to reach this objective with political means, with diplomatic means, instead of military means.
But I never heard someone suggest how. In the international community everyone is saying – Hamas shouldn’t have a future, or a part in the future of Gaza Strip. Hamas should be disarmed.
How do you suggest it will happen?
It’s a very simple question. I never heard the answer to it.
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Unfortunately, antisemitism in Europe, which is an old disease, exposes a new face these days. And the new face of antisemitism is anti-Israel.
We must acknowledge the fact that the approach towards the Jewish state today is in line with demonization and double-standards.
And I hope that more and more European leaders will say what we can all see. There is an anti-Israeli obsession wave in Europe today.
Europe faces challenges – security and strategic challenges. I believe and I think that Europe needs Israel, no less than Israel needs Europe.
A constructive dialogue cannot be based on threats and sanctions.
We are a proud nation. We are a sovereign state fighting for its existence, from its establishment. But intensively during the last two years.
We are always ready for a dialogue.
To be frank, our dialogue with the EU on the humanitarian issue brought the change in July.
And the dialogue is always better than other alternatives.
I told my friend that those states like France and the UK that pushed their so-called recognition of a so-called Palestinian state have made a tremendous mistake, because you cannot disconnect the issue of statehood, which is one of the final status issues.
You cannot disconnect statehood from peace because if you do that, you will make it even harder to get to peace.
A peace agreement in the future can happen only in a bilateral context, as much as everything that the Palestinians achieved until today was only in a bilateral context.
Another approach will be a present for Hamas, which is already connecting that to October 7th. And this is how Palestinians looked at it. It will not bring us closer to peace or security. It will destabilize the region. It will push Israel also to have unilateral decisions. And that will be a grave mistake.
So I urge those responsible states in Europe, including Denmark, to speak with their European friends and with their other friends and tell them not to make this mistake.
And we still have time to prevent that.
Thank you.”
