Slovenia\u2019s government has been an outspoken critic of Israel\u2019s war; in contrast, Jansa is a staunch supporter of Israel.<\/p>\n
![\"Slovenia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2020-12-08T124225Z_1803739263_RC20JK99O5OK_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-SLOVENIA-1774004153.jpg\")
Slovenian then Prime Minister Janez Jansa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem on December 8, 2020 [Ohad Zwigenberg\/Pool via Reuters]Diverging views on Israel-Palestine<\/p>\n
For a small nation \u2013 roughly the size of New Jersey in the United States \u2013 home to two million people, the Israel-Palestine conflict has played a significant role in its politics.<\/p>\n
Slovenia\u2019s current government has openly criticised Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, even introducing a ban on imports of goods produced in the occupied Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n
In May 2024, the country recognised Palestinian statehood, raising a Palestinian flag alongside the flags of Slovenia and the European Union in front of a government building in downtown Ljubljana.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2024-05-30T140549Z_1178822059_RC2118A0NV2T_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-EUROPE-SLOVENIA-1717083961..jpeg\")
A Palestinian flag flies next to a Slovenian and an EU flag, at the government building in Ljubljana, Slovenia, May 30, 2024 [Borut Zivulovic\/Reuters]<\/p>\n
In May 2025, Slovenia\u2019s President Natasa Pirc Musar told the European Parliament that the EU needed to take stronger action against Israel, condemning \u201cthe genocide\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Later in the year, it banned<\/a> far-right Israeli cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country and became the first country in the EU to ban all weapons trade<\/a> with Israel over its genocidal war on Gaza.<\/p>\n It has also backed Slovenian International Criminal Court (ICC) Judge Beti Hohler, after she was sanctioned by the US for her role in issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.<\/p>\n In a letter sent to the EU heads of state on March 13, Golob and Musar warned that Europe\u2019s refusal to condemn the sanctions indicated that \u201cconcern for economic consequences has taken precedence over a principled defence of judicial independence and international justice \u2026 at a moment when armed conflicts rage, when international law is being violated, when the victims of the gravest crimes look to the ICC as their last hope for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n Nika Kovac, a Slovenian sociologist and cofounder of the 8th of March Institute, a nongovernmental organisation focused on human rights, told Al Jazeera that support for Palestine is in part rooted in the fact that Slovenia is \u201ca very young country\u201d, which means \u201cthere is \u2026 solidarity with countries that want to be independent, and they cannot be.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the country\u2019s approach to Palestinian rights could shift if pro-Israel Jansa were to be elected.<\/p>\n Jansa has been a close ally to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and lambasted Slovenia\u2019s decision to recognise the state of Palestine, with a statement from his party claiming it was tantamount to \u201csupporting the terrorist organisation Hamas\u201d.<\/p>\n In the lead-up to the election, a series of covertly recorded conversations was published online, featuring a Slovenian lobbyist, a lawyer, a former minister and a manager.<\/p>\n The videos purportedly show the individuals discussing ways to influence decision-makers in Golob\u2019s coalition to expedite procedures and secure contracts.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Golob accused \u201cforeign services\u201d of interfering in Slovenia\u2019s elections, after a report by the 8th of March Institute and investigative journalists claimed that representatives of the Israeli private spy firm Black Cube had visited the country in December and Jansa\u2019s headquarters in the weeks leading up to the leaks.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Slovenia\u2019s Intelligence and Security Agency confirmed the arrival of Black Cube representatives in Slovenia and presented a report on foreign interference in elections, which the agency\u2019s director said was alleged to have been carried out at the behest of people in Slovenia.<\/p>\n The State Secretary for National and International Security in the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Vojko Volk, made a statement following the announcement, saying, \u201cAccording to information available to date, representatives of Black Cube have stayed in Slovenia on four occasions over the past six months.\u201d<\/p>\n On Thursday, Golob sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen notifying her of \u201calarming information regarding what appears to constitute a grave instance of foreign information manipulation and interference currently unfolding in the Republic of Slovenia\u201d.<\/p>\n French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Thursday that Golob \u201cwas the victim of clear-cut interference\u201d by \u201cthird countries\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, in every election in Europe, there is interference that disrupts electoral processes,\u201d Macron said.<\/p>\n Jansa has admitted to meeting with a Black Cube representative but denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Slovenia heads to the polls on Sunday in a closely contested race between incumbent Prime Minister Robert Golob…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4410,63,1685,42,44,43,238,10496,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-349120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-elections","tag-europe","tag-european-union","tag-headlines","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-slovenia","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Slovenia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2025-08-25T120652Z_1180947374_RC2CEGAEEJXI_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-SLOVENIA-1774004145.jpg\")
Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin meets with Slovenia\u2019s Prime Minister Robert Golob, at the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 25, 2025 [Borut Zivulovic\/Reuters]<\/p>\n![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/reuters_69bd22e4-1774002916.jpg\")
A woman votes during the early voting before national elections, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, March 17, 2026 [Borut Zivulovic\/Reuters]Accusations of \u2018foreign information manipulation\u2019<\/p>\n