Czech: Prez Zeman apologizes to President of Israel over anti-Israel attitudes

Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic, has issued an apology letter to Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, over their anti-Israel attitude towards Israeli Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky.

President Zeman shared the letter on his official Facebook account; the post reads:

Initially, he welcomed Israeli President Isaac Herzog again to Prague Castle. Further, President Zemen reminds about his several Israel visits and visits of Israeli leaders to the Czech Republic.   

“I’d love to see this balance. However, not by reducing the frequency of Czech visits to Israel,” Zemen said.

“We did some common homework, which includes, for example, holding a long-delayed meeting of the governments of the two countries,” he wrote. 

President Zemen wrote about the opportunity for further expansion of already excellent cooperation in the field of defence, in the field of technology, where we recognize the high level of technological advancement of Israel, and of course, in many other areas.

 I do not have to emphasize that the Czech Republic fully supports Israel in the international field, including the United Nations. In this context, we discussed with the President also the recent anti-Israel resolution of the UN Council for Human Rights, which we both condemned, the post reads.  

Further, the post reads that he apologized over the protest letter expressing disagreement with the anti-Israel attitudes of the Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský while meeting with the leaders of the Jewish community in Prague. 

I also received a similar letter of protest from the Czech Republic of Israel Friendship Society and the so-called Terezín Monument. As the head of the Czech Republic, I would like to apologize for this attitude, He added.

According to the media reports, President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal returned home on Monday from a visit to the Czech Republic and were welcomed by staff to a different residence than they had departed from on Sunday.