LJUBLJANA — Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar thanked Slovenia for its "friendship" and for "standing with Israel when it matters" ahead of the opening of an Israeli embassy in Ljubljana on Wednesday.

 

Saar's visit and the embassy opening are the latest manifestations of a diplomatic reset under nationalist Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who is embracing Israel as a chill sets in between it and much of the rest of Europe.

The pivot by Jansa, who has long been at loggerheads with the European Union and who took power for a fourth time earlier this year, is a sharp contrast with the previous centre-left government, which described Israel's campaign in Gaza as "genocide".

 

Speaking alongside Slovenian Foreign Minister Tone Kajzer during his first official visit to the country, Saar lauded Slovenia for "the friendship you have shown when it comes to Israel".

"Slovenia... has stood and is standing with Israel when it matters," Saar told the press conference ahead of the inauguration, which takes place later Wednesday.

 

"Israel remembers its friends. As you have stood with us, we will stand with you."

 

Defying the EU

 

Asked whether he expected Slovenians to help Israel relocate Palestinians from Gaza, Saar said Israel was "not planning to expel or to deport anyone from [the] Gaza Strip".

 

If someone wants to leave Gaza "from his own will, and there is a country which is ready to accept him, as it happens from any conflict area in the world, we will not oppose that", he said.

The opening of the embassy comes a day after the United Kingdom and other European countries provoked Israeli fury by banning imports from settlements in the occupied West Bank.

It is the latest in a series of moves by European governments grappling with growing international condemnation of Israeli policies towards Palestinians.

 

But in Slovenia, Jansa has instead received Israeli accolades for defying the EU over the West Bank settlements.

 

Under him, Slovenia has vetoed an EU statement condemning the settlements, reversed its own ban on imports from the settlements, lifted its arms embargo on Israel and scrapped entry bans on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and two of his ministers.

 

Jansa has said his government was "only normalising Slovenia's foreign policy and fixing the damage" caused by liberal ex-prime minister Robert Golob.

 

'Trojan Horse'

 

Not all Slovenians are on board, however.

 

Several human rights organisations have announced demonstrations for later Wednesday, during the inauguration near the defence ministry, and AFP observed a significant security deployment around the area.

 

Golob's Freedom Movement Party is filing an impeachment claim against Jansa over his Israel policy, the Slovenian news agency STA reported, though there is no chance of it succeeding since it would need an absolute majority in parliament.

A poll conducted by the daily newspaper Delo in June found that 56 per cent of Slovenians opposed closer ties with Israel, while 14 per cent supported them.

 

Golob's party has described the new embassy as "a return of the favour" for Israel's alleged support of Jansa during the March election.

 

Former president Danilo Turk told AFP that Slovenia has "become an instrument of Israeli policy".

 

"This is a very uncomfortable situation," said Turk, an international law professor at Ljubljana University.