Divisions within the European Union (EU) over the Israeli-Palestinian issue once again came into sharp focus during the vote on the New York Declaration at the United Nations General Assembly on September 12. The bill, sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, aims to serve as a “roadmap” toward “the effective implementation of the two-State solution,” calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages, as well as the “objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State,” one from which Hamas would be excluded.

In total, 142 states voted in favor of the bill, which was strongly opposed by the United States and Israel, as well as eight other countries, including Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban reaffirmed his refusal to endorse the EU’s longstanding support for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

Slovenia, which had recognized Palestine for over a year, on September 25 became the first EU state to ban Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from its territory. However, the Czech Republic chose a troubling abstention, representing another form of rejection of the European consensus on the issue.

Czech leaders historically support Zionism

The “founding father” of Czechoslovakia, Tomas Masaryk, who served as president from 1918 to 1935, was very close to Zionist circles. He was the first head of state to visit Palestine, then under British mandate, in 1927. During that trip, he made a point of visiting the newly established Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Grand Rabbi Abraham Kook, who had “blessed” the United Kingdom for being the “instrument of God in fulfilling His promise,” namely, the “return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.”

Masaryk also visited Tel Aviv, which had been established as a Jewish municipality two decades earlier, as well as Haifa and several kibbutzim. The first Czechoslovak president’s support for the Zionist project was so strong that, after his death in 1937, a kibbutz south of Acre was named Kfar Masaryk, or “Masaryk village.” Czechoslovakia’s commitment to Israel did not waver, even after the communists took power in 1948, as Prague delivered decisive arms shipments to the newly created State of Israel, crucial for its victory against the coalition of Arab states.

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