Israeli Alternate Premier and Defense Minister Benny Gantz held talks with his counterpart Jaroslav Naď of the Slovak Republic.
After discussion on the status of current procurement deals, the two leaders announced that the defense ministries of Israel and Slovakia will shortly move toward signing an agreement outlining Slovakia’s acquisition of radar systems developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
They also reaffirmed a commitment to expand bilateral industrial cooperation.
According to a statement obtained by TV7, Minister Gantz “further outlined the main strategic challenges with which Israel is currently contending,” chiefly “the confrontation with Iran and its regional aggression” and expounding “upon the security establishment’s attempts to pursue assertive and effective policy on that front.”
Minister Gantz also pointed to the imperative to confront the “”threat” posed by the International Criminal Court (ICC) “to nations’ efforts to protect their citizens from terrorism,” as he underscored Israel’s resolve “to protect itself by whatever means necessary,” said the statement.
Israeli leaders have vehemently rejected the recent ICC decision to investigate alleged IDF war crimes against the Palestinians.
Visiting Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who was in Jerusalem to inaugurate his nation’s official diplomatic mission in a state ceremony, also strongly condemned the ICC.
Branding the probe as “intolerable,” he stressed that “The Czech Republic does not recognize Palestine as a state, it is a political ruling.”
Babiš called on the ICC to end its discriminatory policies against the Jewish State, and stressed that Prague “will not forgive for anything that will endanger the State of Israel – which is the only democracy in the region.”