Czech Republic vows to block EU sanctions on Israeli minister

PRAGUE – The Czech Republic will block the European Union’s attempts to sanction Israel’s national security minister over his treatment of activists who were trying to get aid into Gaza, the country’s top diplomat said. 

Foreign Minister Petr Macinka said he told EU partners to “not even try or we will block” such a proposal if it’s tabled before an election in Israel in late October as doing so would fuel the popularity of the far-right minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, at home. 

EU diplomats have begun work on imposing sanctions on Ben-Gvir even as divisions persist among member states, Bloomberg News reported last week.

Czech opposition is set to stymie those efforts, likely leaving member states to act unilaterally as some – including France and Ireland – have already done. 

Spelling out his reasoning, Macinka described Israeli minister as “a terrible person, an unbearable individual” whose behaviour “really goes beyond the pale”. 

Still, the measures targeting Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both considered hardline nationalists, would turn them into heroes for their voters and “victims of some anti-Zionist conspiracy by the West,” he told Bloomberg News in an interview in Prague on June 9. 

“Paradoxically, we would actually help them by doing this,” Macinka said. 

In addition to casting sanctions as election interference, the minister also criticised the activists themselves calling them “provocateurs” and “very radical.” 

The EU in May moved to sanction violent settlers in the West Bank, the first time the 27-member bloc secured unanimous backing for punitive measures against Israel since the height of the Gaza crisis.

That list was initially going to include Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, but ultimately officials held off in order to gain more support. 

Macinka has been focused on strengthening political and economic ties with Israel.

In May, the Czech Republic hosted the biggest Israeli business delegation to the country, along with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

The government of billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis is keen to build pragmatic ties with other countries, Macinka said.

This aligns the Czechs more closely with the administration of US President Donald Trump as we “speak the same language“ and “share the same world view,” according to the minister.

“Under us, there has been a significant reduction in that kind of exporting of moralising,” he said. “Instead we are trying to export goods and services.” 

The 47-year-old Czech diplomat drew praise from Trump after he sparred with Hillary Clinton at a panel discussion earlier in 2026.

He said his recent talks in the US have focused on forging closer business ties in the defence sector.

Czech companies may be involved in America First Arms Transfer Strategy, a programme intended to make up for missing capacity in US defence sector, he said.

Macinka wouldn’t elaborate on the size of these deals or companies involved, but said such production could take place in the US and the Czech Republic and would start during Trump’s presidency.

“If those technologies were transferred to our territory, that would undoubtedly be quite a good set of steroids for Czech defence exports as well,” he said.

The Czech defence sector, led by arms maker CSG NA, has undergone an unprecedented boom since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 as revenue soared on ammunition and defence vehicles sales.

CSG owner billionaire Michal Strnad said in May that he’s looking at possibilities to further diversify in the US. 

‘Very difficult for us’

The NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara in July will test the relationship Czechs have with Trump.

The government in Prague has come under US pressure after falling short of the military alliance’s spending targets. 

“The Czech Republic’s fiscal conditions” are “very difficult for us,” he said, adding that the country remains committed to increasing defense spending going forward. “It will take some time.”

While the Czech budget deficit was below 3 per cent of gross domestic product in 2025, the government has signaled the gap may widen because of investment spending.

Macinka hails from the ruling coalition’s junior Motorists party, which entered Parliament for the first time after 2025’s election. 

His politics were shaped under former eurosceptic president Vaclav Klaus, whose opposition to deeper European integration, climate regulation and the euro still resonates in the country. 

A former head of communications for Klaus, he has had tense relations with the current head of state, Petr Pavel.

The minister is keen to normalise ties with China, which he said soured under the previous government as it sought to focused more on building ties with Taiwan, while respecting the One China policy.

Relations with Taiwan will remain at business level but the Czechs “don’t want to take any steps that someone could interpret as steps supporting Taiwan’s independence,” he said. BLOOMBERG