Opponent of 2-state solution, Gideon Saar appointed Israel foreign minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Knesset member Gideon Saar as a new foreign minister last night, replacing Israel Katz who became a defence minister.

A hardliner, Saar takes the helm of Israeli diplomacy at a time when Tel Aviv presses ahead with its deadly wars in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Born to Ashkenazi Jewish parents in Tel Aviv, Saar served in the Israeli military as an intelligence officer in the Golani Brigade, before studying law at university.

He previously held several government positions, including justice minister, deputy prime minister, education minister and foreign minister.

Saar, who heads the right-wing New Hope Party, was a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, but he quit in March after his request to join the War Cabinet was rejected. The War Cabinet was dissolved in June after the resignation of Minister Benny Gantz.

In late September, the Israeli government unanimously approved the appointment of Saar as a minister without portfolio.

Saar is notoriously known for opposing any political settlement with the Palestinians.

During previous Israeli wars on Gaza in 2009 and 2014, he was a vocal opponent of any ceasefire with resistance groups in the enclave.

In 2022, he refused to allow Palestinian workers from Gaza to cross into Israel for work.

He is a staunch supporter of Israel’s ongoing brutal offensive on Gaza. Saar also backs the idea of establishing a buffer zone inside Gaza.

In March, he told the Jerusalem Post that Israel should put forward its own ceasefire plan and called for the exile of Hamas leaders in exchange for the release of Israeli captives.

In February, Saar voted in the cabinet against the establishment of a Palestinian state, affirming his previous opposition to any Palestinian statehood.

In December 2019, he said that the two-state solution was an “illusion”, claiming that the boundaries of the State of Israel are “between the river [Jordan] and the [Mediterranean] Sea”.

In 2005, Saar strongly opposed former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan for Gaza and blamed the withdrawal of Israeli settlers and troops from the territory for last year’s Hamas attack.

He, however, opposes the current idea adopted by right-wing Israeli officials of rebuilding Jewish-only settlements in Gaza.

“I opposed disengagement [from the Gaza Strip]. I believe it was a mistake, but I don’t think there should be [an Israeli civilian] return,” he said. “There is no international consensus for this.”

Saar’s appointment comes as Israel stepped up its deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 43,400 people, mostly women and children, since 7 October 2023.

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