Israel welcomed recent actions taken by the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the protection of the Jewish community in the country, said the Embassy of Israel to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also welcomed the Croat proposal of changes to electoral legislation in the country.

The embassy, which is based in Tirana, referred to the resolution passed by the Bosnian House of Peoples which supports the working definition of the term anti-Semitism, determined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The resolution was passed at the initiative of Deputy Speaker Dragan Covic.

The embassy also welcomed a similar decision passed by the Presidency of BiH at initiative of Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik as well as the move by city authorities in Mostar to rename disputable street names.

“The State of Israel supports the recent steps taken by various institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which benefit all its citizens and its Jewish community, and hopes that these steps are an expression of a welcome trend and that other BiH cities and their officials will be inspired by this positive steps taken by the city of Mostar, and that they will make the right choice when it comes to renaming streets and public institutions that bear offensive names,” it stressed.

Also, the embassy touched upon the issue of electoral reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, emphasisisng the necessity of legitimate representation, implementation of court rulings that refer to the rights of minorities, and welcomed the proposal of Election Law changes proposed by the Croat side.

“The State of Israel firmly believes that the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Annex IV – the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, have established a sustainable system of power sharing between the constituent peoples and their political representatives. The State of Israel firmly believes that this must be respected and taken into account when considering solutions for the electoral law, which must simultaneously ensure two key principles – equality and non-discrimination,” the statement stressed.

One of the ways to maintain these key principles, it added, is through legitimate representation, which was confirmed by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and “without which the system of consociational democracy would be neither enforceable nor sustainable.”

“In this regard, the Sejdic-Finci case (the ECHR's case treating the rights of minorities in election process), as well as other judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, have yet to be implemented. Insufficient implementation remains a burden for BiH. In this sense, the readiness and proposals of the Croat side on changes in the electoral law are welcome,” the embassy underlined.