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German Foreign Minister Heads to Israel Stressing That Gaza Can No Longer Pose Terror Threat
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is seen at an EU meeting. Photo: Reuters/Gregor Fischer
Germany’s foreign minister will arrive on Sunday on her fourth visit to the Jewish state since the Hamas pogrom of Oct. 7 took the lives of more than 1,200 people, with over 200 seized as hostages amid widespread atrocities.
Annalena Baerbock is scheduled to meet with her counterpart, newly-appointed Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, as well as President Isaac Herzog. She will subsequently travel to Ramallah in the West Bank for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and from there to Egypt and Lebanon.
On Friday, Baerbock told reporters that her visit would center on three main concerns.
“The Gaza Strip should no longer pose a terrorist threat to Israel in the future,” she emphasized. “At the same time, Palestinians must not be expelled from Gaza; there must be no [Israeli] reoccupation of Gaza or a reduction in the [size of the] territory.” She then added that the German government “is working with all its might for a negotiated two-state solution, even if it is now a long way off.”
Separately on Friday, a spokesperson for the German foreign ministry warned “that the risk of escalation [on the Israel-Lebanon border] is unfortunately very real.” Clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah terrorists backed by Iran have intensified over the last week.
The concern was voiced two days after Germany issued a formal warning to its citizens not to travel to Lebanon because of security fears.
“A further aggravation of the situation and expansion of the conflict cannot be ruled out, especially in view of the killing of the deputy chairman of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh Al-Arouri, in the Beirut area on Jan. 2, 2024,” a statement on the foreign ministry’s website said.
“All German citizens who are still in Lebanon are asked to register on the ELEFAND crisis preparedness list and to leave the country as quickly as possible,” it emphasized.
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
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