Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša attended the inauguration Wednesday of the Israeli embassy in Slovenia, which took place amid a push by many E.U. members states to isolate Israel internationally.
Sa’ar on X noted Janša’s attendance, which was unusual, and that of Sa’ar’s Slovenian counterpart, Tone Kajzer as well as “ministers from current and previous governments,” who “celebrated the opening of Israel’s new embassy in Ljubljana. Israel is on the map in Ljubljana too. Shana Tova!”
In a moving ceremony, together with my friend and colleague @TKajzer, the Foreign Minister of Slovenia, I inaugurated the Embassy of Israel in Slovenia just an hour ago.
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) September 9, 2026
This is the fifth new Israeli embassy within a year and a half.
We have friends in Europe and around the… pic.twitter.com/mNdBk7VbaO
Sa’ar continued: “This is the fifth new Israeli embassy within a year and a half. We have friends in Europe and around the world, and we must strengthen relations and cooperation with them. I will continue to expand Israel’s diplomatic network around the world.”
On Tuesday, the British government announced it would ban products made or marketed by Israelis in Judea and Samaria, joining Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland, which had already announced similar boycotts. Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal and several other countries said they were considering imposing bans. The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, considers Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria illegal.
According to reports in the media, which Janša appeared to confirm last month, Slovenia, as a member of the E.U, had blocked a united condemnation of Israel by all 27 bloc members.
“In truth, we have merely extricated Slovenia from the vicious cycle of losing credibility through the incessant, disproportionate condemnations of Israel for every move it makes,” Janša wrote on X about the reports.
In June, Slovenia’s new government under Janša scrapped the previous administration’s sanctions on Israel, including on the import of arms, products from Judea and Samaria, and visits by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Slovenia’s former prime minister, Robert Golob of the left-wing Freedom Movement, was among the most hostile leaders to Israel in the European Union. His government banned the import of goods made by Israelis from Judea and Samaria, said it would endorse South Africa’s genocide lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and said it would comply with the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
