Israel has lost my sympathy, says Croatia’s president

Croatian President Zoran Milanović said he doesn’t sympathize with Israel because of its reprisal actions in Gaza after last weekend’s Hamas attacks, and criticized displays of the Israeli flag in his country.

In comments to media on Thursday, Milanović hit out at Israel over its retaliatory strikes in Gaza, which have so far killed more than 1,500 people according to Gaza’s health ministry, and called the Croatian foreign ministry’s decision to display the Israeli flag outside its building in solidarity with the country “an idiotic move.”

“With all my sympathy for Israel, which unfortunately they lost within 15 minutes … there is no place for other flags in Croatia, except in strictly regulated situations,” Milanović said. “I condemned [Hamas’] murders, I even expressed disgust and abhorrence, but the right to defense does not include the right to revenge and the killing of civilians,” he added.

Israel’s strikes on Gaza came in response to Hamas militants conducting a wave of attacks, breaching the country’s border, killing more than 1,200 people and taking around 150 hostages back to Gaza.

Milanović also said he would lower the EU and NATO flags in his presidential office below the Croatian one, saying they are “not the same” and so should not be hung on the same level.

Elected president in 2020, Milanović was previously prime minister of Croatia between 2011 and 2016.

Milanović has made controversial remarks in the past, from comparing the Ukrainian patriotic chant “Slava Ukraini” to a Nazi salute, to threatening to withdraw Croatian troops from NATO forces stationed in Eastern Europe.