Excerpts also from the same interview are reproduced below (and that provides us with the clue why only a cherry picked miniscule fragment was posted).
One should better visit the site <http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-interview-with-israeli-defense-minister-moshe-yaalon/2014/10/24/4b44a218-5aca-11e4-8264-deed989ae9a2_story.html> for the complete interview. Sukla I/V. Kobane [a Syrian town near the Turkish border] is about to fall. The ground forces seem to be weak. I hope it is not too late to deal with it. Air superiority is very important. It is important, but is it enough? It is not enough. Don’t misunderstand me — I don’t recommend Western troops to be deployed. But ***the troops on the ground, whether they are Kurds, Iraqi armed forces or Syrian militias that are not extremists, should be supported by the West in order to be able to defeat ISIS*** [emphasis added]. II/V. How do you see the threat from ISIS? ISIS is a new phenomenon, originating from al-Qaeda. This is not a threat for us. This is a threat to the free world as they actually claim to [want to] defeat all those who are not ready to follow their religious, Islamic way — whether they are Muslims, Christians, Kurds, Alawites, Shias or Jews. The idea to confront them by creating a coalition is an awakening. . . . Hopefully the coalition led by the United States will contain them. III/V. What is Israel’s strategy in Syria? We don’t want to be involved. We enjoy a relatively calm situation on the border of the Golan Heights. They understand that if they violate our sovereignty, we immediately respond. IV/V. Last summer, you and Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu decided to limit the operation in Gaza — not to reoccupy Gaza. Yes. Was that the right decision? Absolutely. It was the right decision. From the very beginning, we understood it might be a tremendous mistake to send our troops to take over and occupy the Gaza Strip. That’s why we decided to avoid it and to direct our military operation toward the endgame, which was the Egyptian initiative [a cease-fire with no preconditions]. V. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, known as a hawk, heightened U.S.-Israeli tensions earlier this year by criticizing John Kerry, saying the U.S. secretary of state had a ***“misplaced obsession and messianic fervor”*** [emphasis added] about the peace process. On a trip to the United States this past week during which he met with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Yaalon spoke with The Washington Post’s Lally Weymouth about the threat he sees from Iran, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Excerpts: Q. You caused quite a stir with your remarks about Secretary Kerry. A. We overcame that. Sukla On 28/10/2014, Feroze Mithiborwala <[email protected]> wrote: > *Israeli Defense Minister says "Support the FSA"* > > Interview question:* So you see a breakup in Syria?* > > > Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon: > > Yes. We have Alawistan — an Alawite enclave led by President Bashar > al-Assad, who controls 25 percent of the Syrian territory. We have Syrian > Kurdistan in the northeastern part [of the country]. We have many Sunni > enclaves. But the Sunnis are divided — we have Muslim Brotherhood Sunnis, > we have ISIS, we have Jabhat al-Nusra. We have the Free Syrian Army, which > we believe should be supported. > http://www.was > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-interview-with-israeli-defense-minister-moshe-yaalon/2014/10/24/4b44a218-5aca-11e4-8264-deed989ae9a2_story.html> > hingtonpost.com/opinions/an-interview-with-israeli-defense-minister-moshe-yaalon/2014/10/24/4b44a218-5aca-11e4-8264-deed989ae9a2_story.html > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-interview-with-israeli-defense-minister-moshe-yaalon/2014/10/24/4b44a218-5aca-11e4-8264-deed989ae9a2_story.html> > > -- > Feroze Mithiborwala > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Peace Mumbai" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/peace-mumbai. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
