Croatia’s president, Zoran Milanovic, has announced that he directed the suspension of all cooperation between the Croatian Armed Forces and the Israeli military, citing what he described as violations of international humanitarian law by Israel.
In a statement posted on social media on Monday, Milanovic said that “because of the unacceptable conduct of the Israeli army and the unprecedented violation of all norms of international humanitarian law,” he already in May last year “ordered the termination of all cooperation between the OSRH and the Israeli army,” covering all members of the Croatian military.
He added that at the same time, he had called on the Croatian government “to halt any form of trade in weapons and military equipment with Israel.”
Milanovic said that in a recent phone call, he directly warned Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic that “any form of military cooperation with Israel would be unacceptable.”
Referring to an official visit by Defence Minister Ivan Anusic to Tel Aviv on Monday, where he met with representatives of Israeli defence companies and officials from the Directorate for International Defence Cooperation at Israel’s defence ministry, Milanovic stressed that as commander-in-chief of the OSRH, he reiterates that “the OSRH will not cooperate with the Israeli army in any way, now or in the future.”
He further underlined that in order to prevent “any harm to the Republic of Croatia,” members of the OSRH “will not participate in any way in the implementation of any agreement, contract or arrangement with the Israeli army or the Israeli defence industry.”
Such agreements, he said, “would therefore be unenforceable and harmful for Croatia.”
Milanovic called on the government, which oversees the procurement of military equipment, to “halt all planned agreements, contracts or arrangements that would include the purchase of weapons and military equipment from Israel.”
He added that the prime minister’s responsibility is to act in accordance with Croatia’s national interests, which he said include “cooperation with NATO allies” and strengthening the capacity of Croatian industry to participate, directly or indirectly, in the production of military equipment.
Meanwhile, Anusic wrote on X that during his visit to Tel Aviv he held talks with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz focused on “strengthening bilateral cooperation at the level of the defence ministries” and deepening ties between the Croatian and Israeli defence sectors.
According to Anusic, discussions centred on sharing expertise, particularly in advanced Israeli defence technologies such as the Trophy Active Protection System, which is being integrated into the German-made Leopard 2A8 tanks Croatia is acquiring.
He thanked Katz for approving the export licence for the Trophy system, stating that its inclusion makes the Leopard 2A8 “one of the best tanks in the world.”
“There is great potential for cooperation with the Israeli industry, and the Ministry of Defence will continue to develop it for the benefit of our Armed Forces and Croatia’s security,” Anusic said.
