Full diplomatic relations between Croatia and Israel were established on April 9, 1997 following Croatia's independence from SFR Yugoslavia. Croatia has an embassy in Tel Aviv and honorary consulates in Ashdod, Caesarea, Jerusalem and Kfar Shmaryahu. Israel has an embassy in Zagreb. Relations between the two countries are described as friendly and highly cooperative. In recent years, Croatia and Israel have intensified bilateral relations and defence and security cooperation. Croatia is one of the countries Israel occasionally turns to within the EU to advocate on its behalf and it generally abstains or votes with Israel on key EU votes at the UN. Then Israeli president Reuven Rivlin described Croatia in 2019 as "Israel's strong ally in the EU, the UN and other multilateral organizations."
Both countries are members of United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization, Union for the Mediterranean and many other international organisations.
The Jewish community of Croatia
The Jewish community of Croatia dates back to at least the 3rd century, although little is known of the community until the 10th and 15th centuries. The community that had approximately 20,000 members until the beginning of World War II, many of whom have contributed to the development of the Croatian economy, science and culture throughout the states history, was almost completely destroyed during the Holocaust that took place on the territory of the Nazi-puppet state, the so-called Independent State of Croatia (NDH). Nevertheless, many Jews were given refuge during the war by the anti-Nazi resistance movement led by the marshal Josip Broz Tito, an ethnic Croat. 117 Croats were honoured with the title Righteous Among the Nations. After the War, half of the survivors chose to settle in Israel while an estimated 2,500 continued to live in Croatia.
Today there are 9 synagogues with Jewish organizations in Croatia; Zagreb (x2), Rijeka, Osijek, Split, Dubrovnik, Čakovec, Daruvar and Slavonski Brod. Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences's Chair of Judaism offers undergraduate and graduate programs in Jewish studies. Jews are officially recognized as a national minority by the Croatian Constitution and therefore have their own permanent seat in the Croatian Parliament.
Croatian Jews in Israel Some people of Croatian Jewish descent make one of the smaller Yugoslav Jewish communities in Israel.
Relations with SFR Yugoslavia While Croatia was a member of the Yugoslav Federation (1943–1991) it established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1948 through the Federation. Until 1952, a total of 7,578 Jews emigrated from Yugoslavia to Israel in five emigration waves. At first, Yugoslavia was mostly neutral in the Arab–Israeli conflict but maintained ties with Israel. Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Israel needed weaponry to defend itself. Czechoslovakia sold to Israel 50 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IX fighter aircraft but it had a problem with their transfer. Faced with harsh Soviet pressure, Czechoslovakia and Israel arranged a transfer through Yugoslavia's Nikšić Airport (in Montenegro) and Port of Rijeka (in Croatia) in the top secret Operation Velvetta. This successful campaign lasted between 24 September 1948 and 5 January 1949. According to Israeli historian and war veteran Meir Pa'il, without Yugoslavia's assistance, Israel would probably not have won the war. Considering that Yugoslavia, which was stretched between the NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, was a leader of the third bloc called Non-Aligned Movement and that President Tito maintained close relations with Arab leaders, especially Gamal Abdel Naser, since most Arab countries were members of the Movement, Yugoslavia severed all diplomatic relations with Israel in 1967 after Israel attacked Egypt in the Six-Day War.Jacob Abadi, Israel and the Balkan States, op. cit. 299Vladimir Petrović, Jugoslavija stupa na Bliski Istok – Stvaranje jugoslovenske bliskoistočne politike 1946–1956 [Yugoslavia Steps Into the Middle East – The Emergence of Yugoslav Middle East Policy 1946–1956], Institut za savremenu istoriju, Beograd, 2007 After Tito's death in May 1980 the separate Yugoslav republics slowly began to pursue their own foreign policies in relation to Israel, with Croatia choosing to pursue pro-Israeli policies.Jacob Abadi, Israel and the Balkan StatesPaul Benjamin Gordiejew, Voices of Yugoslav Jewry, State University of New York Press, New York, 1999, p. 378
Relations during the Croatian War of Independence After the breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s, conservative politician President Franjo Tuđman rose to power in the newly independent Republic of Croatia on 8 October 1991. Israel has complained about the attitude that Tuđman presented in his book "The Wastelands of Historical Reality", more specifically in the chapter entitled "The history of the multiplication of war crimes and the creation of the Jasenovac and Bleiburg myth" in which he questioned the number of people killed in Jasenovac concentration camp considering that the number was from 30,000 to 40,000, unlike much higher figures presented by the Yugoslav authorities which emphasized a range between 350,000 and 800,000.Ramet, Sabrina P. (2011). Serbia and the Serbs in World War Two. Palgrave Macmillan. . The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) presently estimates that the Ustaša regime murdered between 77,000 and 99,000 people in Jasenovac between 1941 and 1945, out of which 12,000 to 20,000 were Jews."Holocaust Encyclopedia: Jasenovac". The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The Jasenovac Memorial Site quotes a similar figure of between 80,000 and 100,000 victims. Tuđman was also writing about the cooperation of some Jewish inmates with Nazi supervisors in Jasenovac, which he based on the memoirs written by the Croatian Communist Ante Ciliga who spent a year as a prisoner in Jasenovac.
Despite these disagreements Israel recognized Croatia as an independent state on April 16, 1992, but still refused to further develop bilateral cooperation.
Criticism of the Israeli policy toward Croatia This Israeli policy has been heavily criticized by Igor Primoratz, a professor at the Department of Philosophy of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In his texts Israel and Genocide in Greece and Israel and the War in the Balkans he wrote: "Since the beginning of the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Israel’s political establishment has taken a pro-Serbian stand. Facts that Israel had an embassy in Belgrade since October 1991 and that Serbia was the first among Yugoslavia's successor states to open the embassy in Israel (though ambassador Budimir Košutić will never submit his credentials to the president of Israel due to the UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Belgrade) are just confirming that. Both Israeli public and the press itself as Yad Vashem refused to recognize crimes that Serbs committed in Croatia during the Croatian War of Independence",Igor Primoratz, Israel and Genocide in Croatia crimes that Croatia considers as the first case of genocide in Europe since the Holocaust.
Establishment of diplomatic relations
In September 1997, after several months of intense negotiations, Israel and Croatia published a joint statement on intention to establish diplomatic relations. Secret talks between the Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Eitan Bentsur, and the head of the office of the Croatian president Hrvoje Šarinić were held in Budapest. Full diplomatic relations among the two countries were established on September 4, 1997, after Croatian government issued a statement apologizing for the crimes committed by Ustaše in the NDH while President Tuđman promised to publish a modified version of his book. Croatia opened its embassy in Tel Aviv, while Israel was represented in Croatia through its embassy in Vienna until 2005.
President Tuđman sought to visit Israel but still has been rejected. The first senior Croatian official to visit Israel was Foreign Minister Mate Granić who made a state visit in May 1998 after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited him. Although president Tuđman hoped to visit Israel in an official state visit he never got a chance to do so because of his sudden death in 1999.
Croatian producer Branko Lustig said on March 4, 2015, in an interview for the Slovenian television that he first met President Tuđman on Zagreb premiere of the film Schindler's List in 1994. He said that Tuđman grabbed his hand at one point while they were watching the movie and that he looked up to him and saw him crying. He said that he thought to himself: "Someone who is crying over the fate of these [Jewish] people cannot be a bad man."
Croatian historian Slavko Goldstein said in an interview for Jutarnji list that he asked for an audience with President Tuđman when he saw a film about Bruno Bušić that was pro-Ustasha intoned in the early 1990s. Goldstein said that Tuđman at one point during the meeting banged the table and shouted: "Slavko, as long as I'm here, the pro-Ustasha policy will not pass."
Relations in 21st century and state visits
After the death of President Tuđman Israel began with active bilateral cooperation with Croatia so in February 2000 it sent a delegation to the inauguration of new Croatian president Stjepan Mesić.
In January 2001, the two countries mutually abolished visas while in October of the same year, president Mesić visited Israel and apologized for the Ustaše crimes against the Jewish people committed during the WWII. He visited Israel for the second time in October 2009.
First Israeli president that visited Croatia was Moshe Katsav who did so in July 2003. In his speech to the Croatian Parliament he said: "Israel appreciates Croatian Partisans and other Croatian freedom fighters who fought against fascism in Croatia during the Second World War. These fighters serve to honor to the Croatian people and are an important national value for the young generation." During his visit President Katsav met with the speaker of the Croatian Parliament Zlatko Tomčić, Croatian prime minister Ivica Račan and representatives of the Croatian Jewish Community. He also visited Dubrovnik and Memorial center in Jasenovac.
In March 2004, delegation of three Croatian ministers visited Israel; Foreign Minister Miomir Žužul, Minister of Science, Education and Sports Dragan Primorac and Minister of Agriculture Petar Čobanković.
On 8 September 2005, Israel opened its embassy in the Croatian capital of Zagreb. The first ambassador of Israel who dwelt in Zagreb was Shmuel Meirom. Since 2019, the Israeli ambassador to Croatia is Vesela Mrđen Korać.
On 15 February 2012, Croatian president Ivo Josipović visited Israel and apologized for the Ustaše crimes against the Jewish people committed during the WWII. He stated: "I stand before the Parliament of the State of Israel, and more importantly, I stand before the Croatian children, and without ambiguity, I apologize. Holocaust survivors and all the other victims I beg for your forgiveness."