Open letter to the Foreign Minister

Dear Minister Juraj Blanár,

in these minutes, a brutal military operation by the Israeli army is taking place on the Palestinian state territory. The Israeli regime has cut off electricity, water, telephone and internet signal in Gaza, while launching a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory. Since October 7, 2023, now over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 40% of the houses in the Gaza Strip have been razed to the ground by Israeli bombardment, as evidenced by recently published satellite images.

This unprecedented intervention, together with the previous bombing of the Gaza Strip and the capture and imprisonment of thousands of civilians in the West Bank, goes against not only the international law, but also against the pillars of Slovak diplomacy, foreign policy and historical experience as an oppressed nation and a state that faced attacks on its territorial integrity in the past.

The Israeli attack is a part of what is probably the first genocide in history to be perfectly documented and broadcast live around the globe. The perpetrator of these war crimes and crimes against humanity, as described by the UN itself, is the Israeli government, which includes far-right parties and politicians, besides the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bezalel Smotrich - a self-proclaimed fascist. 

We consider it necessary that the Slovak Republic

1. confirming our obligations towards the State of Palestine, which the Slovak Republic considers an independent state,
2. affirming human rights as a pillar of Slovak diplomacy,
3. remembering the national liberation fight for the bare existence of the nation in the 1840's, and the later struggle for the sovereignty of the state,
4. reaffirming the anti-fascist legacy of the Slovak National Uprising
5. and in the interest of protecting human life and promoting peace

demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

At the same time, we hereby call on the Slovak diplomacy to summon the Israeli ambassador, and we call on the Government of the Slovak Republic to intensify the pressure against Israel's actions on the forum of the European Union and other international organizations, as well as to declare an arms embargo against Israel.

We believe that given the government's attitude towards the conflict in Ukraine, the Slovak Republic will take the same principled attitude towards the situation in occupied Palestine.