Czech Republic cools on near-term move of Israel embassy to Jerusalem

The Czech Republic will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem “at the right moment,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala says, cooling the likelihood of a near-term move that the government had signaled after the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.

The Czech Republic has been a strong ally of Israel on the international scene, at times breaking ranks with EU allies in United Nations votes on Middle East affairs.

After the October 2023 attack, Fiala said the embassy move to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv could come in a matter of months, but on Thursday, he indicated the move was some way off.

“Let’s make it clear: The Czech Republic will move the embassy, because it is right, the question is not if but when,” Fiala tells a hearing in the upper house of the Czech parliament.

He says the move should come at a time when Israel is not in a state of war with the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza, and ideally when the Abraham Accords are widened to include more partners.

“Let’s be a little patient, but at the same time ready to make this step as soon as the right moment arrives.”

The Czech Republic opened a diplomatic office in Jerusalem in 2021, a step that drew protests from the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League.

It would be the second NATO country to move its embassy to Jerusalem after the United States, which did so in 2018 under the first Trump administration. It would be the first European Union state to move its embassy.

Israel’s government regards Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the country, although that is not recognized by the vast majority of the international community.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed, as the capital of a future Palestinian state.