Czech PM slams ministers who lambasted Israel for annexation plans

Three senior Czech officials — the incumbent foreign minister and two of his predecessors — have come out against Israel’s supposed plan to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank.

In an elaborate op-ed, Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček, Culture Minister Lubomír Zaorálek and senior MP Karel Schwarzenberg affirm their country’s strong alliance with the Jewish state, but argued that the new government in Jerusalem’s annexation plan was not only a grave and unacceptable violation of international law but also raises serious questions about the future of Israel as a democracy.

But shortly after the article appeared in the Pravo daily newspaper, the country’s prime minister, Andrej Babis, is distancing himself from the piece, saying he was not consulted before its publication. Determining foreign policy is the prerogative of the entire government and therefore it is “unacceptable” for Petříček and Zaorálek — to voice their opinion on such an important matter, he tells reporters.

Czech President Milos Zeman — known as a staunch supporter of Israel’s right-wing government — issues a formal statement denouncing the op-ed as disruptive of Prague’s relations with Jerusalem and Washington.

“This article is a denial of the current foreign policy of the Czech Republic towards the State of Israel,” his spokesperson, Jiří Ovčáček, says.

— Raphael Ahren