Sa’ar decries Western moves to recognize Palestinian state, says war has been ‘successful, generally speaking’

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar decries Western moves to recognize a Palestinian state, telling the Wall Street Journal that Israel will prioritize strategic interests over “PR,” while adding that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has “improved dramatically.”

Speaking to the Journal during his first official visit to the United States since he took office, Sa’ar blames Israel’s mounting diplomatic damage nearly two years into the Gaza war on “huge propaganda” by Hamas and other anti-Israel actors, and the harsh reality of “a consistent two years of war.”

“I want to hope it won’t last with the same temperature on calmer days. We will finish this war,” he says, adding that “we will not risk real interests for a temporary period of quiet and better PR.”

On European recognition of Palestinian statehood, Sa’ar says many Europeans “cannot understand that the Palestinians  — all the factions — their ideology is to eliminate the Jewish state.” He reiterates that recognition is seen by Hamas and Palestinians as a reward for October 7, and warns that “Europe today has huge Muslim communities. There are already cells of radical Islam there. It has an effect.”

On Gaza aid, Sa’ar says, “The real aid situation has improved dramatically. The prices of basic products that had been very expensive fell during the past weeks. And this is because the quantities that enter the Gaza Strip, mainly by trucks, and also by airdrops, are huge.”

The WSJ cites economist Yannay Spitzer of Hebrew University, who found a nearly 90% drop in flour prices since July and called it “discrediting” that the UN-backed hunger monitor appeared to ignore the data to declare a famine.

Sa’ar says the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s famine declaration “is not humanitarian; it’s political,” though he acknowledges, “I’m not saying, of course, that the situation in Gaza is not tough. It has been two years of war.”

Describing the war as “successful, generally speaking,” Sa’ar says, “We restored Israel’s image of strength after the low point of Oct. 7. But it’s not only an image. It’s reality. . .  By dealing with the proxies around us, we exploded the architecture Iran built for decades. [By dealing directly with Iran,] we changed the entire strategic equation in the Middle East.”

Sa’ar is slated to meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials in Washington today.