The non-resident Ambassador of Israel to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Galit Peleg, said that it is shameful that the Jews in Sarajevo are afraid in their own city, and asked “Where is this European Jerusalem now? The Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Elmedin Konakovic, responded to her words.
“It is shameful that they are afraid in their own city. When I first met the mayor of Sarajevo (Benjamina Karic), she told me that Sarajevo is the European Jerusalem. Where is that Jerusalem now? Where are the rights of the citizens of BiH who for hundreds of years brought only respect to Sarajevo and BiH? Now they are being threatened because people are emotional about what is happening in Gaza, and they have wrong information,” Peleg pointed out, adding that she is truly sorry to see what is happening in Sarajevo.
In his reply, Konakovic told Ambassador Peleg that Sarajevo is the European Jerusalem.
“It is in the same place, shining brighter than ever, and once again it has the courage and strength to tell the whole world the truth. It has courage and strength, and this time it also has an obligation. No one understands the suffering better than us, no one is affected by the images of murdered children like we are because we have lived through such things ourselves recently. That is why we have no right to remain silent,” Konakovic stated.
He told her to stop attacking Sarajevo and its politicians who disagree with her.
“You said that Mr. Komsic was ‘protecting terrorists’, but he publicly called the Hamas attack terrorist and condemned it. You attacked Mayor Karic by stating the thesis in ‘radicalized’ Sarajevo, you even say that there is ‘support of some BiH politicians for Hamas’. None of what you stated is true,” said the minister.
Furthermore, Konakovic pointed out that she tried to create narratives of radicalism in BiH in the past, especially Islamic radicalism at the time of Islamophobia.
He also emphasized that it is true that almost all BiH politicians condemned the killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas because there is no justification for killing civilians.
“It is also true that we all clearly say that the individual actions of Hamas cannot and must not be an alibi for killing children and civilians, for attacking hospitals and buildings, for stopping the supply of water and electricity, for the crimes that we are now seeing in Gaza, which are being carried out by members of your army at the behest of your authorities,” Konakovic stated.
In the end, Konakovic said that an initiative to open a “Holocaust Museum” had been launched in Sarajevo, as he called the European Jerusalem, and that the Canton Sarajevo (CS) Government had already allocated money, Klix.ba reports.
Photo: Fena
