As Gaza is pummelled, is Serbia secretly sending weapons to Israel?
Al Jazeera
According to media reports, arms exports have grown during wartime in another sign of ever warming ties.
Throughout Israel’s war on Gaza, Serbia has sought to publicly avoid political involvement in the conflict, with Belgrade maintaining a relatively neutral position aimed at preserving relationships.
Serbia has ties with Israel and, at the same time, does not want to present itself on the international stage as undermining Palestinian interests, analysts told Al Jazeera.
Understanding the Balkan country’s unique perspective on Israel-Palestine requires some understanding of 20th-century history.
Serbs and Jewish Israelis share an identity as Holocaust victims. Belgrade is also linked to the Palestinians and Arab states through Yugoslavia’s historic role in the Non-Alignment Movement. And in 1967, Yugoslavia showed solidarity with Egypt and Syria by severing diplomatic relations with Israel and never restoring them until Yugoslavia’s collapse.
Since Yugoslavia’s breakup in the early 1990s, Serbia has been proud of its friendly relations with Israel as well as the Palestinians. Meanwhile, Belgrade has a record of voting in favour of Palestine at the United Nations and supporting a two-state solution.
