Israel has not and is not interfering in the political crisis in Syria, Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Sunday, adding that he did not think radical Islam would take over the country in case Syrian President Bashar Assad is ousted.

Ya’alon’s comments came as Russia and China vetoed on Saturday a Western-Arab UN Security Council resolution backing an Arab League call for Assad to step aside.

The other 13 council members voted in favor of the resolution, which would have said that the council “fully supports” the Arab League plan.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Speaking to Army Radio on Sunday, Ya’alon referred to claims that Israel was sustaining Assad’s rule in wake of political turmoil in Syria, saying: “That’s factually untrue because Israel never took a stand saying it was interested in the survival of Assad’s regime.”

The vice prime minister also spoke of the aftermath of Assad’s possible ouster, saying that “there could be different developments in such a situation, some of which could be positive as far as Israel is concerned, like a fissure in the Tehran-Damascus-Beirut-Hamas axis of evil.”

“There’s a difference between Syria and Egypt,” Ya’alon said, referring to the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, adding that the “Brotherhood’s power in Syria is much less significant.”

For more, go to Haaretz.com

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount