Final Word from Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Dir. Michal Koudelka of the BIS counterintelligence agency outflanked Pres. Miloš Zeman and PM Andrej Babiš in April with regard to the Vrbětice explosions and forced them to agree to a sharp U-turn in relations with Russia. Zeman doesn't appear to be willing to allow the same thing to happen with regard to Israel. At the AIPAC policy conference in Washington, DC, in March 2015, he quoted Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that the "Czech Republic is Israel's best friend in Europe," and he showed his solidarity in the fight against what he referred to as Islamic terrorism by declaring, "I am a Jew." He repeated this phrase three years later at an AIPAC event in Prague. AIPAC calls itself "America's pro-Israel lobby" and is decidedly unnice to politicians who are pro-Palestine. Jan Lipavský, the new coalition's choice for foreign minister, is having his voting record in Parliament's foreign committee dissected and wouldn't rank high on any list of friends of Israel. When Zeman indicates that his veto of Lipavský is non-negotiable, it's his way of saying that Czech policy on Israel won't move an inch on his watch. [ Czech Republic prime minister Spolu PirStan Pirates Petr Fiala ]