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An Israeli embassy will open in Slovenia for the first time on Wednesday, in the presence of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, reflecting a significant improvement in relations between the two countries since the return of nationalist leader Janez Janša to power.
Relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply under the previous center-left government of Robert Golbow, after he described the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip as "genocide."
Since returning to the premiership at the end of May, a position he previously held three times between 2004 and 2022, Janez Janša has lifted the arms embargo on Israel, rescinded the entry ban targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and two of his ministers, and lifted the ban on importing goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
These measures prompted Sa'ar to declare him a "friend of Israel" in a statement issued in July.
For its part, the liberal Freedom Movement party, led by Gollub, condemned Janša's decisions, describing them as a "quid pro quo" and accusing him of benefiting from Israeli support during the March parliamentary elections.
These accusations are based primarily on videos allegedly revealing corruption within Gollub's government, which several media outlets have attributed to the Israeli private intelligence firm Black Cube.
Janša acknowledged meeting with a Black Cube official but denied commissioning the operation.
In a post on the X platform on Monday, he asserted that he only wants to "normalize Slovenia's foreign policy and repair the damage" he believes his predecessor inflicted on Slovenian interests.
He noted that "no competent international body has determined that genocide occurred in Gaza," while legal proceedings against Israel continue at the International Court of Justice.
Netanyahu wrote on the X platform, "Thank you to Prime Minister Janša for his courage and clarity in the face of the European Union's hypocrisy."
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