Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rejected international criticism of Israel’s military presence in Lebanon on Tuesday, saying Hezbollah and Iran are the real violators. “I hear statements in the international community that Israel is breaching Lebanon’s sovereignty. Listen to the truth. Hezbollah is breaching Lebanon’s sovereignty. Iran is breaching Lebanon’s sovereignty,” Sa’ar said at the JNS 2026 International Policy Summit in Jerusalem. His remarks came as Israeli and Lebanese delegations met in Washington for a fifth round of U.S.-brokered political and security talks aimed at stabilizing the border and addressing longstanding disputes.
Sa’ar argued that Lebanon remains under Iran’s influence through Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist group that wields significant military and political power in the country. “The foreign minister of Lebanon decided to expel the Iranian ambassador from Beirut some months ago,” Sa’ar said. “It never happened, because the truth is—and not so many people are saying it—Lebanon is under Iranian occupation, indirectly by Hezbollah, but under an occupation on the soil of Lebanon.” The fundamental challenge is that Hezbollah remains stronger than the Lebanese Armed Forces, he added, calling it a “mutual problem.” “I hope that with the talks being held today in Washington, D.C., we will be able to build on that common ground to build the common future,” Sa’ar said.
Sa’ar addressed his recent decision to “sever all contact” with the office of European Union foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas after reports that she compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid-era South Africa during a closed-door meeting in Mexico. Kallas has declined to confirm or deny the reports publicly Sa’ar stressed that the move was directed at Kallas, not the European Union as a whole. He pointed to what he described as “very good, open and honest discussions” with EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica this week in Jerusalem. “I privately asked her to do something about it,” Sa’ar said of Kallas. “She could say, ‘I didn’t say that.’ She could have said, ‘I’m standing behind these words.’” (Ed note: And one thing that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar didn't say, was that both the Lebanese government and military have been very weakened and infiltrated by the terrotist group, Hezbollah.) (Read More)
