New Israeli FM Gideon Sa’ar tells THE ROSENBERG REPORT he wants to lead a ‘different approach’ to public diplomacy

In his first exclusive TV interview since assuming his government role, Israel’s new foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said he wants to prioritize Israel’s fight in the court of world public opinion alongside the military war effort.

“I put on the table very important thing. I want to lead a different approach with a significant budget to public diplomacy,” Sa’ar told ALL ISRAEL NEWS Editor-in-Chief Joel Rosenberg on his program, THE ROSENBERG REPORT, which airs weekly on TBN. He believes the Jewish state can and should be doing more to fight for the hearts and minds of “so many people that hear lies against Israel, time and again in world media.”

To that end, he vowed to allocate special resources with a budget of about $145 million in 2025, a substantial amount by Israeli standards.

Sa’ar has also expressed openness to the idea of appointing a first-ever Israeli ambassador to the Christian world, stressing that Christians are Israel's “natural allies.”

“This will allow me to lead a powerful battle on behalf of Israel’s name, interests and values around the world,” Sa’ar told Rosenberg. “It’s not only diplomatic work that is always crucial, but also work (that focuses) on world media, social networks.”

He made the point that oftentimes there is a “gap” between where public opinion stands on Israel – as a result of negative media influence – and a country’s official leadership.

“When you have public opinion against you in a Western democracy, it's hard for leaders to work against it,” Sa’ar explained. “We have this problem in some of the countries in Europe.”

“We will have to work to close this gap. That's a core issue for Israel, not only in this war, but as a consistent thing,” he added.

Sa’ar himself has already managed to close some gaps in late September – the ones that he had with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When asked about his decision to rejoin the government that he left seven months ago, Sa’ar told Rosenberg that he now agrees with Netanyahu on key security issues. This includes dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions as a top threat to Israel, but also the ongoing war in Gaza and Lebanon.

“I had some differences because I thought that decisive actions should come earlier and I resigned in March, but I came back after a series of sessions with the Prime Minister when I realized that we see eye to eye,” he said.

“That is history. That is not important,” he continued. “What’s important is that the Prime Minister led to the right decisions... and some of them were really courageous decisions to take. Therefore, when we realized, both of us, that we see eye to eye – it was clear that we should work together.”

Like Netanyahu, Sa’ar is convinced that the top priority security issue facing Israel is preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons. 

"Is Israel going to have to attack Iran to neutralize that regime and destroy their nuclear weapons program?" Rosenberg asked the foreign minister.

“The most important thing is that we should be decisive," Sa'ar replied. By being ‘decisive,’ he then clarified, Israel could resort to military action to take out the threat – if necessary.

Watch Joel Rosenberg’s full interview with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on the TBN website.

THE ROSENBERG REPORT airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. EST and Saturday nights at 10:00 p.m. EST – on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the most-watched Christian television network in the United States.