pressured the EU<\/a> to soften a statement condemning Israeli settlements, sparking domestic criticism and praise from Israel. The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed dismay over the failure to present a unified EU response. Foreign Minister Tone Kajzer said Slovenia \u201cconstructively contributed\u201d to the discussions.<\/p>\nOn 21 September, the Social Democrats (SD), Freedom Movement (Svoboda), and the Left (Levica) accused Kajzer of blocking the EU statement and failing to inform the National Assembly. Kajzer dismissed their claims as a publicity stunt.<\/p>\n
Pro-Palestinian vs pro-Israel policies<\/p>\n
During Golob\u2019s tenure, Slovenia was one of the few EU countries to recognise an independent Palestinian state in 2024 formally. His administration imposed an arms embargo on Israel due to military operations in Gaza and criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. <\/p>\n
In contrast, Janez Jan\u0161a\u2019s Slovenian Democratic Party, allied with far-right former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, maintained close ties with Israel. Reports indicated Jan\u0161a consulted with the Israeli firm Black Cube, though he denied any misconduct. After taking office, he removed the Palestinian flag from the government building and rescinded all measures enacted against Israel.<\/p>\n
Golob criticised Jan\u0161a for obstructing the EU\u2019s stance on illegal settlements, stating that recent actions represent a shift away from international law. Golob\u2019s Freedom Movement plans to seek Jan\u0161a\u2019s and Foreign Minister Kajzer\u2019s removal in Parliament.<\/p>\n
Opposition vs Kajzer<\/p>\n
An interpellation concerning Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tone Kajzer has been submitted to the National Assembly, initiated by SD MP Andreja Kati\u010d, with support from MPs of Svoboda and Levice. The interpellation addresses Slovenia\u2019s recent decision to be the only EU member to oppose a joint statement on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which prevented its adoption. The government justified this stance by saying the statement added no value, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly thanked Jan\u0161a for Slovenia\u2019s position.<\/p>\n
Kati\u010d emphasised the need to determine who decided to block the statement, why, and how it serves Slovenia\u2019s interests. She criticised Kajzer for not informing the National Assembly about this significant policy shift, arguing that the law required him to do so. In June, Slovenia had maintained that the settlements were illegal, but it then became the sole EU country to hinder consensus on the issue.<\/p>\n
Kati\u010d warned that while Kajzer claimed continuity in foreign policy, the current government had rescinded measures against Israel previously adopted by its predecessor. She noted reactions from abroad, highlighting the European Commission President\u2019s criticism. Kati\u010d concluded that a divided Europe cannot influence events effectively, while Left MP Nata\u0161a Suki\u010d accused the government of aligning Slovenian foreign policy with Israeli interests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since taking office in June, right-wing populist Prime Minister Janez Jan\u0161a has shifted Slovenia\u2019s pro-Palestinian policy. The previous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-623394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623394","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=623394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}