Czech foreign minister stresses Prague’s support for Israel, believes EU sanctions averted

The Czech Republic’s outgoing foreign minister, Jan Lipavsky, visited Israel on Thursday where he pledged Prague’s continued support for the Jewish state. The Czech nation, which has a history of friendship with the Jewish people, consistently ranks among Israel’s strongest allies in the European Union. 

“Czechia never backed down on Israel during the war because we believe that Israel has the right to exist and to defend itself from its enemies,” Lipavsky said in an interview with The Times of Israel. While The Czech Republic is forming a new government, he predicts that Prague will continue to support Israel in the European Union (EU) and in the wider international arena. 

The EU member states have been deeply divided on the Hamas-initiated Gaza war. Countries like Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands have urged strong diplomatic action against Israel including potential sanctions on Jerusalem. However, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Italy and Hungary have opposed these harsh measures against Israel. Prague’s top diplomat believes that last month’s American-brokered Gaza ceasefire has reduced the risk of potential EU sanctions on Israel. 

“I think the release of hostages [from Gaza] and the Trump peace plan really helped this region with regard to the perception in the European Union,” Lipavsky assessed. 

“Of course, there are some countries that would like to put sanctions on Israel… But I don’t see any chance that such sanctions would be approved, and not only because of Czechia, but many others [in the EU],” the Czech foreign minister predicted. 

He revealed that the recent EU Foreign Affairs Council debate in Luxembourg was “rather relaxed on the Middle East,” adding “it didn’t remind me of many previous councils where many countries were calling for pressure on Israel.”

Many Western leaders have previously strongly criticized Israel’s military self-defense operations in Gaza against the terrorist organization Hamas, which launched the war on Oct. 7, 2023, when it massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 251 people from southern Israeli border communities. In contrast, the Czech government has consistently backed Israel’s right to defend itself against enemies that openly call for the murder of all Jews. 

“I don’t feel I’m in a position to tell Israelis how they should wage war with one of the most brutal terrorist organizations on the planet,” Lipavsky said. While expressing empathy for the Gaza’s civilian population, the Czech foreign minister blames Hamas for the human suffering on both sides of the border. 

“I deeply feel for people in Gaza,” he said, stressing that “the two years of war were the fault of Hamas, which held hostages for its own political purposes.”

The Czech foreign minister also assessed that the Western recognition of a “Palestinian state” in September was “a mistake” that does not advance peace in the Middle East. 

“Sadly, Hamas, for a certain time, was able to politically achieve quite a lot, including the recognition of a Palestinian state by many countries, which I think was a mistake,” he explained. Prague backs the Trump-brokered peace plan for Gaza and the wider Middle East which explicitly calls for the disarmament of Hamas and security for Israel. 

The Czech foreign minister was asked whether Prague had been pressured to abandon its pro-Israel orientation during the two years of war in Gaza.

“No. They haven’t even tried it because they knew what the answer would be,” Lipavsky told The Times of Israel. 

The Czech Republic could potentially become the first EU member state to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital Jerusalem. 

“Let’s make it clear,” the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced in May, “the Czech Republic will move the embassy, because it is right, the question is not if but when.”