The wave of solidarity with Gaza that has swept Western Europe over the past months stops at the borders of the Czech Republic, where most people seem indifferent to the plight of the Palestinians. This is a position it shares with Slovakia, Poland and Hungary.
Czech magazine A2 Explores the reasons for the strong support for Israel by the Czech government, the public and the media, in order to understand why A2 “We seem to feel the need to escape from the complexity and ambiguity of conflicts such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, into a narrative about the clash between good and evil,” says editor Lukács Rechtsky.
Czech-Israeli relationship
Political scientist Marek Czecha, who specializes in Israel's modern history, explains that to understand Czech attitudes toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one must go back to the anti-Semitic Hilsner trial at the turn of the twentieth century. The future president of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Masaryk, then a law professor, defended Leopold Hilsner, a Jew accused of libel (Hilsner was sentenced anyway). As head of state, Masaryk became an outspoken supporter of Zionist aspirations, which he viewed as a liberation movement similar to that of the Czechs and Slovaks seeking independence.
Except for a short interlude after World War II, Czechoslovakia followed the Soviet policy of supporting Arab countries throughout the communist era. During Vaclav Havel's presidency, Czechoslovak (and later Czech) policy reversed, although, as Czecha points out, Havel supported the peace process and was keen to meet the Palestinians whenever he visited Israel. But after Havel, the Czech right established close ties with Likud, which strengthened Israeli-Czech relations.
Czecha finds it surprising that the current Czech government “has shown no reversal of the mass protests against the Netanyahu government at a time when it has clearly turned toward authoritarianism and attempted to make undemocratic changes in the Israeli political system.” He points out that the Czech Republic and Hungary, recently, went so far as to obstruct the European Union's imposition of sanctions on extremist Israeli Jewish settlers.
Censorship and media bias
Despite the accurate depiction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by many Israeli writers, only six such works have appeared in Czech translation, writes Lukács Rieštski. Czech perceptions appear to still be shaped by Leon Uris's 1958 pro-Zionist best-seller Exit (Published in Czech in 1991). Even fewer works by Palestinian authors have been translated into Czech, writes Monika Saramova, who notes the centrality of themes of displacement and exile in Palestinian literature.
This bias is most evident in the Czech media, writes media theorist Jan Mutal. Palestinians, and those who stand up for their rights, are demonized or depersonalized and, unlike Israeli victims, rarely photographed. Mutal cites the example of the Palestinian artist residing in the Czech Republic Yara Abu Atayawhose story first appeared on major television stations and newspapers, but was quickly retracted, with the journalists who interviewed her losing their jobs.
The killing, wounding or driving into exile of many Palestinian journalists appears to have left their Czech colleagues unaffected. In any case, they were not prepared to respond to the IFJ's calls for support.
“Czech journalism has long suffered from isolation from the global debate about the ethics and standards of journalists,” Motal says. Although attempts have been made to address this failure, particularly by smaller independent media, the mainstream has remained stubbornly resistant. Dehumanizing or ignoring the Palestinian victims of the war in Gaza is just part of the abhorrent image of the Czech press, which remains unable to defend human dignity.
