An EU effort to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank has stalled due to objections from Hungary and the Czech Republic, diplomats say.
The two staunch allies of Israel made clear in an EU committee on Thursday they were not ready to let the proposal go forward for now, said four diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity about internal EU deliberations.
Anyone here understand the politics behind this? Is it just Hungary being Hungary, or is something more here?
Also I don’t see why the Czechs particularly would be sympathetic to Israel’s cause here compared to the other EU states?
I’m Czech and I never understood why our country has such particularly close ties with Israel. What’s even stranger is that I’e noticed this with both the populists and the liberals in power. I haven’t seen much coverage of the alleged war crimes in the media here (I have not done my resarch)
IIRC, Orban and Netanyahu are buddies from way back.