Israel’s new foreign minister has said his country should reach out to Kurds and other regional minorities that are “natural” allies.
Gideon Saar, who was appointed foreign minister after his predecessor Israel Katz replaced the sacked Yoav Gallant last week, said Israel should look to Kurds, Druze and other minorities in neighbouring countries, in addition to Saudi Arabia, for support.
Gideon Saar says Kurdish people ‘natural’ allies for Israel as relations with Turkey sour
Gideon Saar speaks during a handover ceremony with his predecessor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem on 10 November (Menahem Kahana/AFP)
Published date: 11 November 2024 16:09 GMT | Last update: 40 mins 11 secs ago 4Shares
Israel‘s new foreign minister has said his country should reach out to Kurds and other regional minorities that are “natural” allies.
Gideon Saar, who was appointed foreign minister after his predecessor Israel Katz replaced the sacked Yoav Gallant last week, said Israel should look to Kurds, Druze and other minorities in neighbouring countries, in addition to Saudi Arabia, for support.
“The Kurdish people are a great nation, one of the great nations without political independence,” he said at his ministerial exchange and inauguration ceremony on Sunday, describing Kurds as “our natural ally”.
“It is a national minority in four different countries, in two of which it enjoys autonomy: de facto in Syria and de jure in the Iraqi constitution.”
Saar said Kurds are “a victim of oppression and aggression from Iran and Turkey”, and that Israel needed to strenghten ties to them. “This has both political and security aspects,” he added.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Saar said that the Druze minorities in Lebanon and Syria should also be approached.
Israel has its own Druze minority, who suffer from some of the discrimination that other Palestinian citizens of Israel do, but often serve in the military.
In Lebanon, the Druze have a history of staunch pro-Palestinian support.
When images circulated in June of a funeral for an Israeli Druze soldier killed in Gaza that showed his coffin draped in an Israeli flag next to an image of two famous Druze figures, Walid Jumblatt, the Lebanese politician traditionally seen as the community’s leader, said it was “an insult to the memory of these two great Arab heroes”.
Meanwhile, in Syria, the community has also opposed Israel, particularly after Israel’s occupation of Syria’s Druze-majority Golan Heights in 1967.