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15 September 2025

THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND CROATIA’S FASCISTS IS STRONGER THAN EVER

Marko Perkovic Thompson’s Half Million Fascist Concert

On September 14, 2022, Tony Greenstein and I wrote an article on attempts by Croatia to impose anti-Semitic election laws on Bosnia and Herzegovina.(5)

The Dayton Peace Accords, signed in November 1995, brought the war of aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina by Serbia and Croatia to an end. The accords divided Bosnia and Herzegovina into two administrative units, pledging equal rights for its ‘constituent peoples’ (Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs, and Bosnian Croats) and ‘others’. As outlined in the Dayton Peace Accords, the country’s Presidency consists of three members, each coming from one of the three ‘constituent peoples’ but each representing all of the Bosnian citizens. The current election laws prevent members of the Bosnian Jewish community and those who identify as ‘others’ from running for President.

Croatia is asking a genocidal supremacist entity for help with "equality" in Bosnia.

By equality they mean 2:1 power "sharing" i.e. two desirable fascist parties among Bosnian Croats and Serbs to overpower the Bosniak majority and other normal Bosnians.https://t.co/ydhfggdyVu
— Aida A. (@_truthtopower) July 15, 2025

For the past five years the neighbouring Croatia keeps persevering in imposing new discriminatory, antisemitic and fascist election laws on one of the two Bosnian entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. That would inevitably lead to having a ‘third entity’ emerging within Bosnia and Herzegovina with an overwhelming Bosnian Croat majority. That new ‘entity’ would subsequently cede from Bosnia and Herzegovina to join Croatia. It is in line with the same World War 2 ideology pursued by the Nazi collaborators, the infamous Croat Ustaše, which included creating Greater Croatia by carving up Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the wake of recent events, I decided to revisit the article referred to above which addressed the contentious issue of Croatia’s proposed antisemitic election law for Bosnia and Herzegovina.(5) The law, which Croatia envisions implementing under the guise of (allegedly) safeguarding the interests of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has garnered significant attention again.

In our article we endeavoured to provide historical context for Croatia’s political trajectory, including its WW2 legacy, and shed light on its actions during the War of Aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s. (5)

We highlighted Croatia’s involvement in this conflict for which it was subsequently prosecuted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and ruled guilty of committing ‘joint criminal enterprise’ on Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the same Croatian policy that now continues to be the framework for pursuing such election laws for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Such laws are seeking to ensure that only Croats can vote for an ethnic Croat candidate to be a member of the Bosnian Presidency, which would preclude all other Croats, not considered by HDZ, the Croatian nationalist party, in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the HDZ party headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia to be ‘pure-bred’, as well as Jews and others from ever running for the Presidency. This would go against numerous judgements made by the European Court of Human Rights (EHRC), including the one (Sejdic-Finci v Bosnia and Herzegovina) that concluded that the current election laws discriminate against Jews and Roma.

Imagine now that Croatia is seeking to make those existing election laws even worse by wanting to have only ‘pure-bred’ Croats who would be elected by only Croats voting for them! This would not only exclude Bosnian Jews from running for the Presidency but also from voting for a Bosnian Croat candidate for the Presidency, the right they have been granted by the existing election laws. Such an election law would be antisemitic in all its respects.

Regrettably, three years have passed since the publication of our article of September 14, 2022, and Croatia has not relinquished its pursuit of implementing the antisemitic election law. (5)

The laws’ proponents argue that it will ensure the ‘legitimate representation’ once there are only those considered to be ‘pure-bred’ Croats running for the Bosnian Presidency. As previously mentioned, the HDZ BiH party, under the direction of its headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia will determine who meets this criterion to run and subsequently represent Croats in Bosnia.

Croatian Prime Minister says that ‘only Thomson could bring together half a million people’ while the Thomson’s concert audience passionately raises their hands in a fascist salute and praise concentration camp Jasenovac in their songs

Given the nature of such election laws and prospects of those being imposed on Bosnia and Herzegovina by Croatia, it is crucial to acknowledge its potential implications. The implementation of such election laws could have far-reaching consequences and raise concerns about the perpetuation of discriminatory practices and creation of an apartheid state at the heart of Europe.

The politics pursued by Croatia since the 1990’s remain the same despite it being adjudicated for committing ‘joint criminal enterprise’ on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the past few years, it seems to be becoming even more aggressive and radical, and more open in demonstrating these traits in public. This is the same politics pursued by Croatia in World War II – the ideology of the Ustaše movement, which included the creation of Greater Croatia. This time, rather than taking the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia seems willing to ‘settle’ for taking almost half.

Founded in 1929, the Ustashas were pro-German Croatian fascists who imprisoned, tortured, and committed genocide against ethnic minorities during World War II. Their brutal actions shocked even the Wehrmacht. The Croatian Ustashas imprisoned, tortured, and killed over 30,000 Jews in concentration camps like Jasenovac (also known as the ‘Auschwitz of the Balkans’), Lepoglava, and Stara Gradiska.

Croatia’s plans, as outlined in the antisemitic, discriminatory and fascist election laws they keep trying to impose on Bosnia and Herzegovina, would result in the creation of small, unliveable ghettos for the Bosniaks, the ethnic group comprising 51% of the country’s population. This would also include members of the Jewish community and other groups, as well as all Serbs and Croats who oppose the policy of ethnic divide, apartheid, and fascism.

And although the legacy of the WWII Croatian Ustashas’ ideology continues to influence Croatia’s policy today, Croatia recently publicly announced that it had received support from Israel in its efforts to enact antisemitic election laws in its neighbouring country, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (1)

This is not the first time Israel has provided support to Croatia for the same antisemitic election laws. They did it in 2022, as we discussed this in our article of September 14, 2022. (5) That time, the information about the support was ‘leaked’, while this time it was announced openly and proudly.

Good meeting my friend Croatian FM @grlicradman on the sidelines of the EU-Southern Neighbourhood Ministerial Meeting in Brussels.
We discussed regional issues in the Middle East and Southeast Europe. I thanked him for Croatia's friendship and support.
Israel firmly believes… pic.twitter.com/r9yM1qt1fz
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) July 15, 2025

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also publiclyacknowledged a ‘good meeting’ with their ‘Croatian friend’ in Brussels in his tweet on X on July 15, 2025. However, his remarks deviated from the principles outlined in the Dayton Peace Accords. He referred to ‘constituent peoples’ while omitting ‘citizens and others,’ which are all included in the Dayton Peace Accords. Additionally, he mentioned ‘power sharing,’ which is neither present in the Dayton Peace Accords nor the Bosnian political system. Despite these blunders (whether deliberate or not), Sa’ar subsequently expressed his full support for the (antisemitic) election law, stating:

“This must be accompanied by a strong commitment to the principles of power-sharing, both in the structure of governance and in the necessary reform of the country’s electoral legislation.”

Such support could not have come at a more opportune moment as the European Union was grappling with the aftermath of a music concert in Zagreb, Croatia, which took place only ten days prior, on July 5th, 2025.

The concert was performed by Marko Perkovic Thompson, a popular far-right Croatian singer who evoked disturbing memories of the notorious Croatian Ustashas.

At the recent concert of July 5, 2025, half a million Croats enthusiastically raised their hands in the fascist salute, screaming ‘Za dom spremni’ from the top of their lungs. Some of the attendees even sang songs about the Jasenovac concentration camp, where they were responsible for the systematic murder of Jews and other victims. Despite the presence of the police, no action was taken.

Notably, Marko Perkovic Thompson appeared on stage fully dressed in a black Ustashas uniform, bearing the prison number of the notorious Ustasha terrorist Zdenko Busic.

In response to the incident, the European Commission strongly condemned the fascist salute (‘Za dom spremni’) and other Ustashas insignia that were displayed at the concert.

When responding to the European Commission’s statement, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic expressed his inability to discern any contentious points within the Brussels-based document. This stance is unsurprising, given his willingness to engage in a handshake with the “singer” and pose for a photograph with him.(4)

Plenković, attempted to downplay the message from the European Commission. However, the European Commission responded condemning any expression of fascism reminiscent of Europe’s darkest chapters. In contrast, the Croatian Minister of Internal Affairs viewed the concert as a “celebration of patriotism, unity, and values.” (4)

Austria’s investigative authorities are currently examining the concert materials, particularly looking for those individuals who purchased tickets for Tomson’s concert in Austria. Given the sale of 18,000 tickets in Austria, some are saying that those who live and work in Austria could have their work permits revoked and be deported back to Croatia if found to have attended the concert.

The Croatian Prime Minister’s assertion that “only Tomson could bring together half a million people” serves as a stark reflection of the political climate in Croatia and the pervasive presence of fascist ideology all over it.

It is in light of the condemnation of the concert by Marko Perkovic Thomson in Zagreb of 5th July 2025,and an uproar from across Europe, and what seems to be the prevailing political ideology reminiscent of WW2 in Croatia, that the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar found it acceptable to voice the support of Israel to Croatia in its endeavours to impose antisemitic election laws on its neighbouring country, Bosnia and Herzegovina, only some ten days after the concert by Marko Perkovic Thomson took place (on 15th July 2025). Indeed, the nature of the Croatian politics hasn’t changed since Israel lent Croatia a hand of support to pursue anti-Semitic election laws for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2022. It has only become more aggressive and radical, and more transparent in showing it to the world outside Croatia to see.

Israel was heavily criticised in the Israel media (The Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post) for supporting Croatia in pursuit of anti-Semitic election laws for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2022- the criticism that was addressed in Tony Greenstein’s and my article of September 14, 2022

Should it be perplexing that, after all, the two countries could be allies? One can conclude, yet again and as we said in our article of September 14, 2022, that the alliance between Israel and the HDZ proves that Zionist Anti-Semitism remains as strong as ever!

1. https://x.com/gidonsaar/status/1945040569543037218?s=462.

2. https://www.index.hr/amp/vijesti/clanak/ek-reagirala-na-plenkovica-i-thompsonov-koncert-plenkovic-to-je-uopcena-reakcija/2688576.aspx3.

3. https://www.euronews.ba/region/aktuelno/28764/plenkovic-thompson-jedini-danas-moze-dovesti-pola-miliona-ljudi-u-hrvatsku4. https://youtu.be/dNUC-iHnKXI5. 4.

4. https://www.rtvbn.com/4079049/austrijanci-cesljaju-snimke-sa-tompsonovog-koncerta

5. 14 September 2022 https://azvsas.blogspot.com/2022/09/why-is-israel-supporting-law-proposed.html

14 September 2022

Why Is Israel Supporting a Law, Proposed by the Heirs to Hitler’s allies, the Ustaše, that Prevents Jews in Bosnia Standing for Election?

The alliance between Israel and the HDZ proves that Zionist Anti-Semitism is as strong as ever

Bosnia crisis: Dodik’s separatism threatens peace in the Balkans

To those who are unaware of the history of Zionism, it might seem strange that Israel, a ‘Jewish state’, should support a Croatian political party that sees itself as the political heir to the Ustaše. The Ustaše exterminated 3 out of 4 Croatian Jews between 1941 and 1945.

In fact there is nothing at all strange about Israel supporting anti-Semitic regimes. It did precisely this in Argentina between 1976-83 when up to 3,000 Jews were tortured to death. It preferred to sell the Junta hundreds of millions of dollars of weaponry.

Zionism has always seen anti-Semitism as the natural and justified reaction of non-Jews to the Jewish presence in their midst. As Jacob Klatzkin, Editor of Die Welt wrote:

If we do not admit the rightfulness of anti-Semitism we deny the rightfulness of our own nationalism... Instead of establishing societies for defence against the anti-Semites who want to reduce our rights, we should establish societies for defence against our friends, who desire to defend our rights.

The founder of Political Zionism, Theodor Herzl wrote in his Diaries that:

‘the anti-Semites will become our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries our allies.’

The roots of the Ustaše’s ideology were in the Croatian nationalism of the nineteenth century as pioneered by Ante Starčević. The Ustaše emphasised the need for a ‘racially pure’ Croatia.

Ante Pavelić

From 1941-45 the Ustaše, led by Ante Pavelić, ruled the Independent State of Croatia, (NDH) a Nazi puppet state. It had the distinction of being the only German ally to establish its own extermination camp, Jasenovac.

Between 300,000 and 750,000 Serbs, 30,000 Roma and 30,000 Jews were exterminated. The method of killing was not with gas or shootings but by beating, drowning, beheading and torture.

Ustase Atrocities

Things were so bad that even the Nazis were revolted. An attaché for the Gestapo wrote to SS leader Himmler:

“The Ustaše committed their deeds in a bestial manner not only against males of conscript age, but especially against helpless old people, women, and children. The number of the Orthodox that the Croats have massacred and sadistically tortured to death is about three hundred thousand.”

The official policy was popularly expressed as:

‘Kill one-third of the Serbs, convert another third to Roman Catholicism, and expel the remaining third from Croatia.’

In 2013 Croatia joined the European Union. As James Bissett, a former Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia wrote, Croatia should have apologised for the Croatian Holocaust before being allowed to join. Germany however, which today has the pro-Zionist neo-Nazi AfD in the Bundestag whilst simultaneously outlawing BDS and pro-Palestinian protests, forced through the accession.

Ante Pavelic giving the Hitler salute - the HDZ is its political successor - unsurprisingly Israel supports it against Bosnia's Jews

In the Spring of 1990, in the wake of the break-up of Yugoslavia elections were held in the Republics. In Croatia, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) triumphed. Following these elections several HDZ officials including President Tuđman, who founded the HDZ in 1989, began engaging in a systematic rehabilitation of the Ustaše regime. Up till the present day HDZ officials go to Bleiburg to commemorate the massacre of Ustaše members in 1945.

War criminal former President of Croatia Franjo Tudman

This resulted in representatives from the Croatian Jewish community boycotting the government’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies in 2016 and 2017 in protest.

Since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, in December 1995, Bosnia has had a political structure divided along ethnic lines.

Jakob Finci, leader of Bosnia's Jewish community

In the landmark Sejdic and Finci case in 2009, the European Court of Human Rights found Bosnia’s constitution to be discriminatory towards its citizens and ordered a civic constitution to be adopted with equal rights for all ethnicities. This has not been done.

Jakob Finci, a Bosnian Jew, and Dervo Sejdic, a Bosnian Roma, addressed the court in Strasbourg, France after they were blocked from running in the elections as their ethnicity did not belong to any of the three “constituent peoples” – Bosniak, Croat or Serb.

Christian Schmidt of the EU's OHR of Germany's far-Right CSU - he is pursuing the same policies by different means as his Nazi predecessors - excluding Jews, Roma and other minorities

The law disenfranchised at least 17 national minority groups who are ineligible to stand for Bosnia’s tripartite presidency or the House of Peoples. In addition to the Jewish community, the arrangement also cut out Bosnia’s Roma population — its largest minority, numbering nearly 60,000 — from being able to stand for election.

“Bosnian politicians still have not ended second-class status for Jews, Roma, and other minorities a decade after the European Court of Human Rights found that the Bosnian constitution violates their rights,”

Human Rights Watch said in a 2019 statement.

“If we, the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina now, are not united by Schmidt, by his imposition of a racist Election Law, in the fight against fascism and racism, no one else will,”

Seijdic wrote on his Facebook page.

Finci, the President of Bosnia’s Jewish community, described how he was “astonished” by a leaked Israeli memo endorsing the proposed new law. He wrote that:

“This was the first time that Israel is taking a position in internal Bosnia affairs, not helping the Jewish Community, or at the request of Jewish Community, but one political party in the country.”

Ustase Atrocities

Noah Gendler, Israeli Ambassador to Albania and Bosnia wrote claiming that “the rights of the Jewish community in the country are being misused to block essential internal processes in [Bosnia]”

And what were these ‘essential internal processes’? A law which will result in Jews, Roma and up to 400,000 other inhabitants of Bosnia being unable to stand for election. Bosnian Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic, who has Jewish origins, issued a statement that

“It is hard to fathom how the official policy of the State of Israel could be to welcome the discrimination of Jews in not being able to hold office in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Turkovic, like many diaspora Jews, did not understand that Israel’s only interest in them is as potential immigrants or as pliant political pawns like the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Turkovic’s condemnation sparked anger among anti-Semites, with Deputy Foreign Minister Josip Brkić stating:

“Today, during my phone call with Israeli Ambassador H. E. Mr. Noah Gal Gendler, I conveyed that the demarche sent to @IsraelinAlbania is not the official position of State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the particular view of one political party,”

Demonstrators outside Schmidt's Office of the High Representative

The memo was issued in response to the electoral plan promoted by Christian Schmidt, the Office of the High Representative, an EU-supported institution created after the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The OHR can overrule government decisions. The Times of Israel compared Schmidt’s powers to those of a ‘colonial governor or a medieval viceroy.’ Schmidt is a worthy successor to the Nazi governors of occupied Europe.

The plan is supported by Croat and Serb nationalists and opposed by the current government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia’s current political system is based on a power-sharing agreement among its three major ethnic groups: Muslim Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats, an arrangement that is believed to have excluded more than 100,000 citizens from top level political representation.

The OHR’s proposed change would simply consolidate the power of ethno-nationalist parties. The Israeli embassy spoke of

“the readiness and proposals of the Croat side, as demonstrated throughout negotiations on changes to the electoral legislation, [are] welcomed.”

Well not by Bosnia’s Jews! What Israel really means is that it welcomes the creation of a far-Right ethno-nationalist state like itself, even if that disadvantages Jews. But why should Israel object? Is not the purpose of Israel to ‘ingather the exiles’? If that means helping anti-Semites to push them out then that is a price worth paying.

In response to Turkovic’s statement Israel’s foreign ministry issued the following Kafkaesque statement. Israel was supporting the ‘preservation of their rights.’ Orwellian!

“The Israeli embassy in Tirana, which is also responsible for Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued a document [on Monday] in which it expresses the support [for] the preservation of the rights of the Jewish community in the country.”

The real reason for Israel’s support for nationalist politicians Milorad Dodik of the Serb community and Dragan Covic, the head of the Croatian Democratic Union party was made clear in their memo – they both support the IHRA ‘definition of anti-Semitism’ which redefines anti-Semitism as hostility to Zionism and Israel. It has nothing to do with hatred of Jews. Dodic is described in the article as ‘a vocal supporter of Israel’ who also denies the 1995 Srebrenica genocide in which Bosnian-Serb forces killed over 8,000 Bosnian-Muslim men and boys.

Former Bosnian Energy Minister Reuf Bajrovic described Israel as ‘siding with people who want Bosnia gone, far-right genocide deniers.” Israel is in effect allying with holocaust deniers.

Catholic Priests Officiating at a Ustase Ceremony

With the support of the Christian Schmidt, who is trying to finish what the Nazis began, Israel is actively helping the heirs to the Ustaše who all but wiped out Croatia’s Jews. This is Zionism.

Below is an article by Jena Delich who is a Bosnian pro-democracy and anti-fascist activist and also a retired British lecturer..

Tony Greenstein

For further reading about the topic of this blog go to:

Ustaše- The fascists that made the Nazi’s look like boyscouts

Croatia Has a Problem with Historical Revisionism, and HDZ Is to Blame

Meet The Ustaše, The Brutal Nazi Allies Even Hitler Couldn’t Control

‘This Is Crazy’: Israeli Embassy Memo Stirs Political Storm in the Balkans

Legislating ‘apartheid’: Critics slam Bosnia’s election law plan

‘New law may cement de facto ban on Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Jews holding high office

Head of Bosnian Jewish Community 'Astonished' by Israeli Memo on Election Reform backed by Israel

Al Jazeera interview with Christian Schmidt, the Croatian High Representative

Croatian High representative, Christian Schmidt, intends on imposing discriminatory and anti-Semitic election laws in Bosnia, backed by Israel

High Representative, Christian Schmidt, whose role is to oversee the implementation of the civic part of the Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is planning on imposing new election laws on the Bosnian entity, which is an administrative part of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the request of Croatia. The new election laws are seen by the vast majority of Bosnian citizens to be discriminatory, anti-Semitic and even fascist.

After the 1992-95 war in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (i.e. the aggression by Serbia and Croatia) was brought to an end by the Dayton Peace Accords, the country was internally organised into two administrative units. The role of the High Representative was established in Annex 10 of Dayton Peace Accords.

Since the war ended, there has been a succession of High Representatives appointed from the EU by the Peace Implementation Council (PIC).

The present High Representative is Christian Schmidt, a German politician and former Minister of Agriculture in Germany. He is also a member of the Christian Social Union, a deeply conservative party in Bavaria which is allied to the Christian Democrats. It was a party that many ex-Nazis joined after defeat in the second world war.

While there was a heavy ‘push’ by Germany to have him appointed as High Representative, the Bosnian diaspora in the U.S. firmly opposed it, expressing their grave concerns to the U.S. administration in their letter of 22nd February 2021 to the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken.(1)

In their letter they stated that

by seeking to appease the forces of segregation and secessionists in BiH – and their benefactors in Zagreb, Belgrade, and Moscow – Schmidt will only distance the country from its rightful place within the community of Western democracies.

They went on to say that

It is also alarming that Schmidt’s political party – the Christian Social Union (CSU) – is a very vocal supporter of the Croatian HDZ, a far right party with a large anti-Semitic base in Croatia and BiH. In fact, Schmidt received the Order of Ante Starcevic by the HDZ, an award that was also given to individuals that were accused and convicted of war crimes. (1)

Christian Schmidt was awarded the Order of Ante Starcevic in 2020, by the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković. (2) The same order of Ante Starcevic was also awarded to the convicted war criminals Dario Kordic and Jadranko Prlic.(2a)

Ante Starcevic was a Croatian nationalist politician whose ideology included the creation of Greater Croatia. “Most right-wing parties in Croatia claim his politics as their legacy.”(3)

Ustase atrocities

It was Croatian right-wing politics in WWII that led to the Ustasha movement being founded which saw 30,000 Jews imprisoned and massacred by the Ustashas in Croatia, in concentration camps like Jasenovac, Stara Gradiška, Lepoglava, to mention just a few.

The legacy of the same politics was pursued by Croatia and its ruling (far right) nationalist party HDZ during its war on the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina which has been ruled as ‘joint criminal enterprise’ by the International Crimes Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, also confirming that the President of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman was leading the ‘joint criminal enterprise’.

Ustase atrocities

The ICTY’s ruling of 29th November 2017 also read:

“The Appeals Chamber upheld the Trial Chamber’s findings that key members of Croatia’s then-leadership, including President Franjo Tuđman, Defence Minister Gojko Šušak, and Janko Bobetko, a senior General in the Croatian Army, shared the criminal purpose to ethnically cleanse Bosnian Muslims and contributed to realizing that goal.” (3a)

A number of Bosnian Croat politicians and military leaders have been sentenced for war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, running of concentration camps such as Dretelj, Gabela, Heliodrom, to name just a few, where they imprisoned Bosniak civilians, torturing, and killing many of them.(4)(5)(6)

Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo

The legacy of that politics is alive and present in the official politics of present day Croatia which is trying to impose election laws on part of Bosnia and Herzegovina via High Representative, Christian Schmidt. The election laws can easily be seen as being both fascist and antisemitic in that they discriminate against Jews, Romas and others who do not fall within one of the three ethnic groups (Croats, Serbs or Bosniaks), by depriving them of any rights to run for High office!

The final and ultimate aim of such an election law is for Croatia to carve up Bosnia and Herzegovina and create ‘Greater Croatia’ by joining the part of Bosnia they occupied by force between 1993 and 1995.

The election law that Christian Schmidt wants to impose is also contrary to four verdicts of the European Court of Human Rights, one of which is the verdict on Mr. Jakob Finci, a Bosnian Jew, and Mr. Dervo Sejdic, a Bosnian Roma.(6a)(6b)

All the rulings found the existing election law to be discriminatory as explained in an article by Baroness Arminka Helic of 01.08.22. (7)

None of the verdicts have been implemented up till now. (8)(9)

the Independent State of Croatia, (NDH) a Nazi Puppet State

Implementing those verdicts would mean equality in the law for all. Sadly, High Representative Christian Schmidt doesn’t seem concerned with implementing those ECHR verdicts. Nor does he seem to be concerned with changing the election laws in Bosnia’s entity of ‘Relublika srpska’ either where only a Serb can run and be elected as a member of the Bosnian Presidency, where apartheid is the best way to describe the place where the remaining non-Serbs (including Jews, Romas and others) live, where all children are taught in schools that war criminals are heroes and the history that is based on lies and fabrications, where the maternal tongue of others is banned - the dark list of similar horrors could go on and on!

The new election laws Christian Schmidt seems to want to impose on the Bosnian entity of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is seeking to further widen and cement the ethnic divide, and ‘may cement a de facto ban on Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Jews holding high office’. (8)

Such election laws would weigh local demographics in elections, which would benefit only ethno-nationalists in further consolidating their power. (9)

Ustase atrocities

Such an election law is being backed by the US and UK!(7) Knowingly or not, they seem to have chosen to be on the wrong side of history. But, I’d say we definitely must be concerned with such a choice and the consequences it would have on people affected by such discriminatory and anti-Semitic election laws.

Apart from the US and UK, Israel has given its support to election laws that would discriminate Jews! The Israeli embassy in Tirana, covering Bosnia and Herzegovina as well, issued a Memo ‘welcoming’ such discriminatory (and anti-Semitic) election laws, as reported in all Bosnian media on 8th August 2022.The Israeli embassy Memo was also reported in the Israel’s media such as Haaretz of 10th August 2022, and the Times of Israel on 13th August 2022. (10)(11)

Ustase atrocities

The Memo of support to the introduction of such election laws issued by the Israeli embassy in Tirana was met with official reactions in Bosnia and Herzegovina condemning such an action on part of Israel.

Thus, Bosnian Foreign Minister, Mrs. Bisera Turkovic, a Bosniak of Jewish descent, expressed her disbelief in her interview given to the Haaretz and reported in the JTA:

“It is hard to fathom how the official policy of the State of Israel could be to welcome the discrimination of Jews in not being able to hold office in Bosnia and Herzegovina,”

According to Haaretz. “The proposed electoral legislation would cement the current discriminatory system towards minorities in Bosnia.”(11)

The Head of the Bosnian Jewish community, Mr. Jakob Finci, also expressed his disbelief at the support given by Israel to the election laws that High representative Schmidt intends on imposing on Bosnia at the request of Croatia, stating that those would ‘minimise the political influence of Jews and other minorities’. (9)

Criticising Israel, Mr. Finci accused the Israeli embassy in Tirana of ‘acting in support of a local ethnic Croat political party’. Finci stated that

‘this was the first time that Israel is taking a position in internal Bosnia affairs, not helping the Jewish community, or at the request of Jewish community, but one political party in the country’.(9)

The ‘political party’ that Jakob Finci referred to in his statement is the Croatian HDZ in Bosnia - ‘a far right party with a large anti-Semitic base in Croatia and BiH’ as per the letter of the Bosnian diaspora of 22nd February 2021. (1)

In their response to Mr. Finci the Foreign Ministry of Israel stated they had ‘no interest in responding to his words’!(9)

Putting it politely, ‘we heard you but we shall still continue to do as we please’!

Should we too, be left in disbelief at the State of Israel welcoming election laws that discriminate against Jews, which High Representative Christian Schmidt, a former German diplomat and politician, seems to want to impose on Bosnia at the request of Croatia?

Shouldn’t they instead be screaming ‘anti-Semitism’ at the very mention of a possibility of imposing such election laws in Bosnia? Shouldn’t they be protesting to the US and UK for supporting Christian Schmidt in his intention to impose such laws?!

I shall leave it to the readers to ponder over those questions, and would finish by quoting a tweet from Jews Sans Frontiers of 11th August 2022 commenting on the interview given by Jakob Finci:

“Bosnian Jewish community leader protests Israel's support for ethnonationalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina. New electoral law excludes Jews and Roma with Israel's support. I don't know why a knowledgeable Jewish leader would be surprised at this.” (12)

What can we do? Write to our governments and MPs or members of Congress in the UK, US and Israel, to protest and demand that they stop supporting High Representative, Christian Schmidt in his intention to impose such discriminatory and anti-Semitic election laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina. If you can, please do.

Jenna Delich

——-

(1) Bosnian American Diaspora Opposes German Push for New High Representative – Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina

(2) Berlinski Magazin - Premijer Plenković U Berlinu uručio odličje Red Ante Starčevića, Christianu Schmidtu njemačkom zastupniku.

(2a) https://istraga.ba/njemacki-kandidat-za-visokog-predstavnika-schmidt-u-starcevicevom-redu-sa-ratnim-zlocincima/?amp

(3) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ante_Star%C4%8Devi%C4%87

(3a) https://www.icty.org/en/press/statement-of-the-office-of-the-prosecutor-in-relation-to-the-judgement-in-the-case-prosecutor

(4) https://balkaninsight.com/2012/09/14/the-untold-story-of-the-dretelj-horrors/

(5) https://hyperleap.com/topic/Dretelj_camp/Heliodrom_camp

(6) What do Heliodrom camp, Milivoj Petković and Dretelj...

(6a) https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf/?library=ECHR&id=001-96491&filename=001-96491.pdf&TID=iebbmqdlge

(6b) https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press?i=003-4820451-5878717#%7B%22itemid%22:%5B%22003-4820451-5878717%22%5D%7D