Czech Republic Recognizes West Jerusalem As Israel’s Capital

Image by iStock

By Aiden Pink December 6, 2017

The Czech Republic is joining the United States in changing its recognition of Israel’s capital.

Following President Trump’s White House announcement on Wednesday that the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Central European nation — one of Israel’s closest diplomatic allies — followed suit, declaring on its foreign ministry’s website that “The Czech Republic currently, before the peace between Israel and Palestine is signed, recognizes Jerusalem to be in fact the capital of Israel in the borders of the demarcation line from 1967.”

“The Czech Republic together with other EU member states, following the EU Foreign Affaires Council Conclusions, considers Jerusalem to be future capital of both states, meaning the State of Israel and the future State of Palestine,” the statement continued.

However, unlike with the United States, where Trump has asked the State Department to move its embassy to Jerusalem, the Czech foreign ministry “can start considering moving of the Czech embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem only based on results of negotiations with key partners in the region and in the world.”

The Czech parliament voted in May to call on the government to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in response to anti-Israel resolutions at UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected]

Aiden Pink is the Deputy News Editor for the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO