The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Eli Cohen, stated that the State of Israel unequivocally distances itself from the statements attributed to the Israeli ambassador to Croatia. “Serbia and its people are valued friends of Israel. We are grateful for the permanent support and partnership of our peoples,” Cohen said on the X platform.

As reported by the Belgrade media, referring to the statements of Croatian colleagues, Israel’s ambassador to Croatia, Garry Koren, showed local media representatives an uncensored video of Hamas crimes on Thursday.

On that occasion, Koren stated that “Croatia because of the Homeland War” understands well what Israel is exposed to.

He also said that the Serbs from the territory of Croatia “were lucky” that Serbia wanted to receive them, unlike the Arab countries that do not want to receive Palestinians because they consider them a disruptive factor.

The Embassy of Israel in Belgrade reacted to this statement by Koren, which in a statement sent to the Belgrade media assessed that Ambassador Koren’s statement was “misinterpreted”.

“A senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel spoke with the Ambassador of Serbia in Israel, HE Miroljub Petrović, and clarified Ambassador Koren’s statement, which was misinterpreted in the media. At no time did Ambassador Koren want to compare the wars of the 1990s in the territory of the former Yugoslavia with the current situation in the Middle East. Israel highly values Serbia’s position in the war that Israel is waging against the terrorist organization Hamas,” the announcement states.