Czech Republic President Milos Zeman on Monday urged the global community to show solidarity with the Jewish people and Israel. His remarks
were made in a speech at the 2015 American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC) conference
“Now we all must say, ‘I am a Jew,’” he told a packed auditorium
in Washington, DC. After extended applause from the audience, he repeated the
sentiment in Hebrew, saying, “Ani Yehudi.”
“Of course, your discrimination is our discrimination,” he
added. “Your victims are our victims.”
Zeman told the gathered AIPAC delegates that expressing
solidarity with Israel is the first step in fighting Islamist terrorism. He
also advocated for “coordinated and systematic action, under the umbrella of
[the UN] Security Council, against the basis of Islamic terrorism.” He
denounced the efforts to fight terrorist groups that involve the “massive
occupation of territory.”
“No tanks, no infantry, no artillery. But drones, rangers and
secret service,” he said. “Never again we shall go, we shall march, like sheep
to the slaughter. Never again.”
Zeman concluded his speech by highlighting the ties between the
Czech Republic and the Jewish state.
“The Czech Republic has been the single island of democracy in
central Europe. And [Israel] is the single island of democracy in the Middle
East. And there must be the solidarity between those islands against the ocean
of dictatorship.”
