Zitat:
The atlas, prepared by a private company and approved by the Ministry of Education for distribution in schools, has, for several years, shown Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Then, this year, the Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic cried foul. The Czech Education Ministry quickly said it would demand changes, with Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem, listed as the capital in the atlas.
The Palestinian ambassador was pleased; the Israelis were furious. They consider Jerusalem to be their capital even if most of the rest of the world regards it as a divided city with Tel Aviv as the country's capital.
"This is a reprehensible decision," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. "Palestinian incitement knows no bounds. It is no longer satisfied with poisoning the minds of Palestinian youth. Now, it wants to spread lies and misinformation among Czech youth, as well."
[...]
And then, another reversal. The Czech education minister announced the atlas would not be withdrawn after all. For Czech children, Jerusalem would remain the Israeli capital — until 2017, when Shocart's textbook certificate comes up for renewal.
As the textbook company pointed out, this was politics. And politically, from the top down, the Czech Republic has been the closest friend of Israel in Europe for years.
Let's start at the top, the Czech president, Milos Zeman. Soon after being elected by popular vote in the country of 11 million in 2013, he proposed that the Czech embassy in Israel be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But his position as president is largely honorific, and the Czech government didn't follow up.
A year earlier, the Czech Republic was the only country in the European Union (along with Canada, the U.S. and Panama) to vote against granting the Palestinians the status of non-member observer at the United Nations.
In 2009, while the Czech Republic held the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, it backed Israel almost unconditionally in the war against Hamas in Gaza, an operation the Israelis called Cast Lead. Czech support for Israel did not sit well with several other EU members, who were critical of Israeli firepower against civilians. A Czech plan to organize a European conference on better ties with Israel at the end of its presidency was blocked and dropped.
[...]
Asked why he was such a fervent supporter of Israel, Zeman referred to the Nazi period: "We have the same history. We, too, were surrounded by enemies, dictatorships. The country of Czechoslovakia (the Czechs and Slovaks split apart peacefully to form two countries in 1992) was an island of democracy in the heart of Europe. And between our two islands there must be solidarity."
There is another side to Zeman's support: his fear and loathing of refugees in general, and Muslims in particular.
He expresses that attitude in incendiary language.
The arrival of refugees in Europe in 2015 was "an organized invasion" — the organizers being the Muslim Brotherhood, the goal being "to gradually control Europe."
As for the refugees themselves, "they come here with dishtowels on their heads and bombs in their pockets."