Gallant: We're ready for peace with Arab states
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"Israel is ready to make peace with every Arab country", Construction Minister and former OC Southern Command Yoav Gallant told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview.
“All of the relations we have with Arab countries, every relationship that is conducted behind closed doors and not publicly, this is done by their own choice. Israel is ready for peace with every Arab country,” Gallant, who is also a member of the security cabinet, told the Post in his office in Jerusalem ahead of the paper’s annual Diplomatic Conference.
“If you look at the picture, there is no real reason for Saudi
Arabia or the Gulf states to fight with Israel. We have shared
interests, a shared enemy called Iran, which threatens Saudi Arabia
from close with all that it has. And therefore there is no reason
we should not be in the process to have peace in the region,” he
said.
“Israel always stretches its hand out for peace with its
neighbors... as it did after the Yom Kippur War with the
Egyptians.”
While Israel has no official ties with any Arab country except for
Egypt and Jordan, the relationships with Saudi Arabia and Gulf
states have grown stronger in recent years due to the shared
concerns about Iran’s actions and ambitions in the Middle East.
According to
Gallant, who will be addressing the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic
Conference in Jerusalem on November 21, the threat of Iran’s
expansion in the region is a common threat for Israel and all Arab
states, as well as the West.
“The Iranians are the most significant and dangerous threat to
Israel and the entire Western world. The distance from Iran to the
Mediterranean Sea is around 1,500 km. – they have no business being
here,” he said.
“But Iran is a terrorist imperialist regime which is trying to
build nuclear weapons,” he continued, explaining that Tehran
“controls” three countries outside its borders – in Iraq through
its Shi’ite militias, in Lebanon through Hezbollah, and in Yemen
through the Houthi rebels – and is trying very hard to entrench
itself in Syria, which would pose a threat to both Jordan and
Israel.
“We need to stop the Shi’ite fire,” Gallant stressed, emphasizing
the need for an international coalition with the United States,
Europe and Russia to push Iran and Hezbollah out of Syria.
“We need to make sure we don’t make the same mistake that we did in
Lebanon and allow an Iranian military presence in Syria,” he said,
adding that Israel cannot allow the Syrian regime to have access to
advanced weaponry which makes its way from Iran to Lebanon via
Syria.
“We can take out Iran from Syria, but we need to continue having a
coalition with those who can help us,” he said, explaining that
there is no country that wants Iran to remain in Syria.
While Gallant did not mention the Gulf states or Saudi Arabia as
part of that coalition, in October IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi
Eisenkot met with his counterparts from several Arab countries,
including Saudi Arabia’s Chairman of the General Staff Gen. Fayyadh
bin Hamid al-Ruwaili, on the sidelines of the Countering Violent
Extremist Organizations Conference for military commanders in
Washington, reportedly discussing several regional issues,
including Iran.
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are at their worst in years
with both accusing the other of subverting regional security. Saudi
Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman caused an uproar earlier
this year when he recognized Israel’s right to exist.
While the aforementioned meeting seems to have been the first
publicized meeting between Eisenkot and Ruwaili, it is the second
consecutive year that the two officers attended this conference,
where they are believed to have also spoken about the threat posed
by Iran.
Last November, following Eisenkot’s first participation in the
conference, he gave an unprecedented interview to the Saudi Elaph
newspaper based in London and offered to share Israeli intelligence
about Iran with Riyadh, telling the newspaper that what he heard
from the Saudis about Iranian expansion was “identical” to Israeli
concerns.
Calling for a new international alliance in the Middle East,
Eisenkot stated that there needs to be “a large, comprehensive
strategic plan to stop the Iranian threat. This is what should be
prevented in the region,” he said, adding that “in this matter
there is complete agreement between us and Saudi Arabia.”
The Houthis, who are armed by Iran and reported to have been
trained by Hezbollah, have also fired several ballistic missiles
into Saudi Arabia, including one that targeted Riyadh a day before
US President Donald Trump visited the kingdom last May.
According to Gallant, Hezbollah is Iran’s frontward army and
therefore it is important that American sanctions begin.
Thanking Trump and his administration for leaving the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal, Gallant said it “is was
the most significant development” for Israel, which had been
opposed to the deal.
“I want to thank Trump and his administration for what they said
when they left the nuclear deal – that it doesn’t matter what is
signed, we know you are lying to us. When America says something
like that, it has a major effect on Iran in terms of sanctions and
political dilemmas. It makes the Iranians deal with their
imperialist dreams,” he said, adding that he hopes the pressure
will continue.
In August Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that Iran was
providing funding to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds
Force in Syria, Hezbollah, Shi’ite militias in Iraq and Houthi
militias in Yemen, as well as Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza,
costing them $2.5 billion a year, “despite all the difficulties and
internal issues” in the country, Liberman stressed.
“Iran wants to have Israel busy on several fronts – in Gaza,
Lebanon and Syria – while at the same time it builds up its nuclear
arsenal. It’s an asymmetric war,” Gallant said.
“Hezbollah is 10 times stronger than Hamas, and we must be aware of
this and its consequences. Any incident with Hezbollah – and there
will be war,” he warned, explaining that Hamas is a weaker but more
restive enemy. They are annoyed. But, if Israel decides to, we can
do whatever we want in Gaza.”
Just days after the interview was conducted, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu his wife, Sara, and senior intelligence
officials met the sultan of Oman on a surprise, eight-hour
visit.
It was the first of its kind in over two decades and led to
unprecedented public visits by Israeli ministers to Gulf
states.
Communications Minister Ayoub Kara attended an international media
conference in Dubai, and Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev
attended the international judo contest in Abu Dhabi, capital of
the United Arab Emirates, where Israel’s national anthem was played
after two gold-medal wins. A week later Transportation Minister
Israel Katz arrived in Oman for an international conference.
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