Czechia’s Foreign Minister Petr Macinka made clear on Wednesday that Prague won’t sign off on any EU trade sanctions against Israel.
After talks with Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar, Macinka said Czechia had serious reservations about last week’s EU sanctions package targeting violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Next time, Macinka was clear, Prague will be taking a “more self-confident” approach to halting new sanctions covering trade relations. Germany and Italy have been instrumental in heading off any economic sanctions anyway.
There’s also the prospect of sanctions related to Israel’s participation in the Horizon research programme and targeted restrictions on two Israeli far-right ministers.
But the EU’s lead on foreign affairs, Kaja Kallas, was also clear this week that confronting Israel is increasingly challenging. “The problem is that we don’t have that leverage over Israel even with those measures that are on the table now because we are not…
