12 May 2021

Selakovic: Incorrect claims of the Israeli Ambassador

 

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selakovic said today that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, during the signing of the Washington Agreement, had resisted horrific pressures and managed to preserve our dignity and national position, and that it was "rude" to claim that Serbia had anything to do with Israel's decision to recognize the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo.

 

 

In a statement for TV Prva, reacting to the claim of the Israeli Ambassador in Belgrade Yahel Vilan that Israel had recognized the so-called Kosovo on the basis of the documents that Serbia and Pristina signed with the United States, Selakovic said that this was not true.

“What the Ambassador of Israel in Belgrade said is not true and is a rudeness of sorts, primarily having in mind that Belgrade and Pristina signed two different documents. The Israeli Ambassador said that they did it (recognized the so-called Kosovo) under the United States’ pressure, while our President endured that horrific pressure”, Minister Selakovic underlined. 

 

 

He explained that Serbia should be proud of its President who was able to resist such horrific pressures. 

Selakovic showed the documents that President Vucic and the representative of Pristina signed in Washington with the then US President Donald Trump, which clearly indicate that these are two completely different papers.

“The one signed by (Avdullah) Hoti reads as follows: Kosovo, that is, Pristina and Israel agree to recognise each other. The document signed by President Vucic says that Belgrade agrees to open a state commercial office in Jerusalem by 20 September 2020 and move its Embassy by 1 July 2021. President Vucic signed a document that makes no mention of either Kosovo or Pristina while the state of Israel, on the other hand, succumbed to pressures that our President managed to resist - to the pride of the entire Serbian nation and Serbia”, Selakovic explained. 

"We should be proud of the kind of President we have, a President who was able to withstand terrible pressures in the middle of Washington, and not to sign what someone tried to hold against him today, and which the State of Israel failed to do. Namely, it did not manage to resist those pressures", Selakovic emphasized.

Referring to the issue of moving the Serbian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Selakovic said that "it is unlikely that something like this will happen, especially after the Israeli recognition of the so-called Kosovo."

 

The Serbian Foreign Minister explained that President Vucic talked with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a few days after the signing of the Washington Agreement, and that he said that Serbia, if respected by Israel, that is, if Israel does not recognize the so-called Kosovo, would move the Embassy to Jerusalem. 

"Let there be no confusion that we have signed something and then changed something. No. The President clearly spoke about it in front of the journalists in Washington as well", Selakovic said.