Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Palestinians, Arab League condemn opening of Czech embassy branch in Jerusalem

Prague’s move is “a blatant attack on the Palestinian people and their rights,” says the P.A. Foreign Ministry • “East Jerusalem is occupied land under international law,” claims the Arab League secretary-general.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit speaks at the 2019 Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 17, 2019. Credit: Kuhlmann/ MSC via Wikimedia Commons.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit speaks at the 2019 Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 17, 2019. Credit: Kuhlmann/ MSC via Wikimedia Commons.

The Palestinian Authority and the Arab League on Saturday accused the Czech Republic of violating international law by opening a branch of its Israel embassy in Jerusalem.

Prague’s move is “a blatant attack on the Palestinian people and their rights,” said the P.A. Foreign Ministry, according to Reuters.

“The legal status of Jerusalem will be affected by the decision of one country or another to open representative offices,” the news outlet reported Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit as having responded in a statement. “East Jerusalem is occupied land under international law.”

The Czech Republic opened a branch of its Israel embassy in Jerusalem on Thursday in a ceremony attended by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabi Ashkenazi.

While Babiš noted that the country’s official embassy remains headquartered in Tel Aviv, the development serves as an indication of the Eastern European country’s tacit acceptance of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“The university cannot force them to host views or speakers that they’re opposed to,” Jessie Appleby, of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told JNS.
The congresswoman from New York received the Eishet Chayil Award from the Chabad of Stamford, Conn.
“We just spoke to Israel a little while ago. I think they’ll be very happy,” he told reporters.
Dani Dayan said that he and the pontiff “addressed the alarming rise in antisemitism worldwide and the urgent need for coordinated, decisive action to confront it.”
VILNISH seeks to help scholars and individuals convert historical manuscripts into searchable digital text for research, genealogy and legal documentation.
“We unequivocally denounce this hateful act in the strongest possible terms,” Irvington officials said.