The Czech Republic has warned it is prepared to stand alone inside the European Union to stop any further sanctions against Israel after the bloc approved new measures targeting Israeli settlers accused of violence in the West Bank.
Foreign Minister Petr Macinka said Prague would not back another round of sanctions and would reject any attempt to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, the framework that guides the political and economic cooperation between the two.
The warning came during a visit to Prague by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who used a joint appearance with Macinka to praise the Czech government as a reliable ally and accuse other European capitals of pushing Brussels toward a more hostile stance against Israel.
Macinka said that Czechia had reluctantly allowed the latest sanctions package to pass after concluding that the final version was narrower than earlier proposals. He said measures against Israeli politicians had been removed, leaving Prague with a choice between accepting the compromise or becoming the only country to block all 27 member states from moving ahead.
“We got into a situation where we would be completely alone and would block the entire 27,” Macinka said, as cited by Echo24, but he insisted that the decision should not be read as support for a broader EU sanctions campaign against Israel.
“We said: okay, this is one thing, but then nothing more,” he said, adding that Prague’s position on any future effort to freeze the EU-Israel Association Agreement would be a “clear no.”
The latest EU sanctions were only approved after the election defeat of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose administration had been blocking the measures. His successor, Péter Magyar approved the plans.
Saar rejected the decision as “arbitrary and political,” saying Israel would continue to defend “the right of Jews to settle in the heart of our homeland.”
Speaking in Prague, he accused some European governments of damaging ties with Israel and trying to pull the EU into what he described as a radical anti-Israeli position. “They completely ignore the fact that we are trying to achieve the same goals, and they are damaging the relationship with the only democracy in the Middle East,” Saar said.
He said friendly EU governments, including the Czech Republic, had to prevent Brussels from being dragged further in that direction.
The meeting between the two diplomats took place as dozens of protesters gathered outside with Palestinian flags to oppose Saar’s visit.
