Croatia's president has stalled approval of new Israeli ambassador for 7 months
Croatian President Zoran Milanović has a history of anti-Israel and antisemitic statements and has compared Israel to Iran, calling both 'foreign germs'
Israel’s government approved Amdur’s appointment in November 2025 and submitted a request for agrément — diplomatic approval — to the Croatian president’s office, in line with standard diplomatic procedure requiring a host country to approve a foreign ambassador’s appointment before arrival.
But Milanović has refused to approve the appointment, leaving it stalled for seven months. It is the first time in Croatia’s history that a president has withheld approval for the appointment of any ambassador. Israel’s current ambassador to Croatia, Gary Koren, is due to end his term at the end of the month and return to Israel. Because of the president’s refusal to approve Amdur’s appointment, it was decided that Amdur would arrive in Zagreb as chargé d’affaires, a role that does not require presidential approval, and wait for the situation to be resolved.
Croatia is facing a severe internal crisis between the president, a left-wing politician associated with the communist-left school of former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and the Non-Aligned Movement, and the right-wing government. Against the backdrop of that dispute, Milanović has refused to approve appointments of Croatian ambassadors around the world. Croatia’s ambassador to Israel, for example, has been serving in the country for eight years and has not left only because the government cannot reach agreement with the president on appointing a replacement.
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