Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik
When Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, left the home of
the Bachar family in Kibbutz Be'eri, he said one sentence, "I will never
forget these words." Previously, for long minutes, they sat facing each
other in the living room that remained as it was on the morning of
October 7, 2023 – the farmer Avida Bachar and the visiting president.
Bachar spoke, and Dodik listened, as one listens to a brother.
Those words he will never
forget described how the four members of the Bachar family locked
themselves in the safe room when terrorists broke into the kibbutz, how
Avida struggled to prevent them from opening the door, how the human
savages surrounding the room began shooting and throwing grenades into
the safe room, and how the stunned and wounded father saw his wife and
son dead before his eyes, and his daughter wounded.
Outside the house, after
embracing Bachar, the president was asked if he wanted to provide a
statement to the media, and he replied with simplicity and honesty so
rare in politicians, "I cannot. How can one speak after what I just
heard?" After a few moments, he gestured toward Gaza and remarked, "No
coexistence is possible with them, with those who came to murder
innocent people and with those who support murderers."
The president of Republika
Srpska did not need his current visit to Israel to learn who stands
against whom in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is well-versed in
the facts and details, and especially brave and determined to recognize
the cause that has fueled the conflict for about 150 years – the hatred
and desire to destroy Israel.
Dodik has supported Israel
for many years, but the October 7 massacre greatly sharpened his
position and established him as one of the clearest voices for the
Jewish state. Immediately after the massacre, he ordered the
presidential building in Banja Luka, the capital of the Republic, to be
illuminated in blue and white. "Just think about it – on that very day,
the Serbian entity's presidential building in Bosnia displayed the
Israeli flag, while the government building in Sarajevo, the capital of
Bosnia's Muslim entity and the capital of the entire country, displayed
the terrorists' flag – the Palestinian flag," Dodik (66) notes in an
exclusive conversation with Israel Hayom, revealing some of the complexity that has surrounded his country since its establishment.
Bosnia is indeed a unique
country unlike any other in the world. Following the Balkan wars, and
with the declared goal of preventing bloodshed, three population groups
were brought together into a single state framework – Muslim Bosniaks,
Orthodox Serbs, and Catholic Croats. To prevent confrontations, and
especially to avoid resolving disputes through weapons, the forces were
separated – the Serbian region, called Republika Srpska, was granted
extensive autonomy. At the head of the united state stands a collective
body, a presidency composed of three representatives from the three
population groups.
On the surface, according to
the utopian vision of European Union and US representatives who created
Bosnia from nothing, the division of powers was supposed to lead to
reconciliation. Important decisions, the project's initiators dreamed,
would only be made by consensus, no one would impose anything on others,
and the afflicted Balkans would be redeemed. In practice, the noble
goal was only partially achieved. The guns have indeed been silent in
Bosnia for more than 30 years, but the ancient hatreds have not gone
anywhere. To a large extent, united Bosnia is a fiction, and Dodik's
example of contrasting solidarity expressions to the October 7 massacre
illustrates this well. While Bosnia's Serbs stood with Israel as their
president directed, the Muslims did not hesitate to support the killers.
"It didn't end with
projecting the PLO flag on the government building in Sarajevo," Dodik
adds, describing a series of demonstrations supporting Hamas and
Hezbollah held in Muslim Sarajevo. "With us in Banja Luka, and
throughout Republika Srpska, such a thing could not happen. Support for
Israel is absolute."
Iran is not just your problem
Two opposing trends are
evident not only in symbolic identification. More than a decade ago,
when Bosnia was a member of the UN Security Council and the Palestinian
Authority sought international recognition as a state, Bosnia's vote was
decisive. The Muslims naturally wanted to support it, but Dodik,
representing Republika Srpska, said no. Since foreign policy decisions
are supposed to be made by consensus, this effectively meant a veto, and
the Palestinian Authority's move was thwarted.
However, the Muslims have
also learned to block Dodik's support for Israel. When he publicly
proposed moving Bosnia's embassy to Jerusalem, as US President Donald
Trump did, it was the Bosniaks' turn to say no.
While the embassy move didn't
happen, Dodik has no doubt that Israel's capital is Jerusalem, and that
Trump was right. In general, the president of Republika Srpska is a
great supporter of the current White House president, and this affinity
has a long history. "I didn't hide my support for him even before he was
first elected in November 2016, and I paid a heavy price for it," Dodik
recalls. "When Trump won the first election, I was supposed to fly to
his inauguration ceremony, and two days before the flight, the outgoing
Barack Obama administration imposed sanctions on me – a clear political
punishment from a Democratic president for my public support of his
Republican rival."
Since those days, Dodik has
also "earned" sanctions from President Biden, who went further and
included the entire political leadership of Republika Srpska and even
Dodik's family members on the sanctions list. Hamas and Hezbollah
supporters on the Muslim side of Bosnia – how surprising – were not
treated similarly. No sanctions were imposed on them.
However, if someone in
Democratic circles in the US estimated that punitive measures would
break Dodik or force him to fall in line, the assessment proved
completely mistaken. During the last election campaign in the US, he
again openly supported Trump, and did so with natural, genuine
enthusiasm. He walked around wearing the red cap with "Make America
Great Again" written on it and showered the Republican candidate and his
platform with abundant praise. At the same time, he asked Serbs living
in the US last November to vote for Trump, partly because he "will
protect family values and other conservative values." After the
election, this support did not diminish one bit, even though the
Republican administration has not yet moved to lift the sanctions on
Dodik.
Q: Do you also support Trump's plan for the Gaza Strip?
"Certainly. His proposal is
so logical and correct. Gaza's hostile population needs to go elsewhere.
They have shown their nature, we've seen what they want to do to you,
even though Israel's hand has always been extended in peace. On October
7, they came to murder innocent, unarmed people who just wanted to live,
to celebrate life. When visiting Kibbutz Be'eri or the Nova party site
in Re'im, one understands the monstrous nature of the horrific crime
committed there. The extremism of Gaza's Arabs brought tragedy to the
border communities, but also shattered Gaza and the Western illusion
that one can live alongside it in peace and sweep the problem under the
rug. After such a massacre, one cannot live beside them, and that's why I
support Trump's plan."
Q: Do you find expressions of Islamist extremism in the Balkans as well?
"Absolutely. Hamas and ISIS
flags at demonstrations in Sarajevo weren't just symbols – they conveyed
a political message. Islamists are not looking for coexistence, they
aspire to impose their will and ideology on others. And they still dare
to make false accusations against Israel, the victim of the massacre, of
committing 'genocide.' For a long time, we have suffered from
aggression that resembles what you are experiencing. Iran, for example,
is not just Israel's problem. For years, it has served as the main
sponsor of extreme Islamic organizations in Sarajevo."
"Know suffering and freedom"
Dodik's concerns are firmly
rooted in facts. Extreme Islam has taken root in the Muslim part of
Bosnia, and while it's still clearly the domain of a minority among
Bosniaks, the trend is frightening. Investigations of attacks carried
out by Islamists across Europe have revealed that in many cases, the
trails led to Bosnia. Unfortunately, Shiite Iran is no longer the only
one sending its poisonous tentacles to the Muslim regions of the Balkan
country. Erdogan's Turkey is competing with it for primacy. In this
competition, the level of extremism and brainwashing only rises, and
that's before mentioning the corrupting influence of Qatar's Al Jazeera, which broadcasts throughout the Balkans in local languages.
Milorad Dodik during the antisemitism conference in Jerusalem, March 2025
No wonder that in the
situation created, President Dodik finds many parallels between the
situation of Jews in the Middle East and the situation of Serbs in
Bosnia, "Just as Israel does not allow any external factor to dictate
when and how it should protect its people, we also reject the idea that
those who do not respect us will decide our security matters. Security
is not a matter of compromise – it is a matter of survival."
Q: What are you trying to learn from Israel?
"We learn from Israel the
meaning of determination, unity, and belief in its strength. Benjamin
Netanyahu and the people in Israel demonstrate what every free nation
needs – the determination for self-defense when necessary, regardless of
the price. This determination didn't grow from politics but from
historical experience. Jews and Serbs are two peoples who stood shoulder
to shoulder in the 20th century when many hoped to witness our
extermination. They didn't succeed, and they will continue to fail. When
Israel defends itself, it's not only protecting the present but also
fulfilling the vow given in the face of your fathers' suffering and
honoring their memory. We understand this because we also repeat this
vow at places of suffering and heroism of our people. A Jewish saying
states, 'Don't ask how long it will last – ask if it's worth fighting
for.' This is the essence of the struggle of Israelis and Serbs – never
ceasing to fight for what is sacred to you."
Q: Are there additional parallels between the Israeli story and the story of the Serbs and Republika Srpska?
"Jews are the people who have
suffered the most in the world, and Serbs have suffered more than
others in the Balkans. Israel refuses to apologize for its existence,
and so do we. We defend the truth, we preserve memory, and we understand
that history didn't begin yesterday. In fact, at Yad Vashem [the
Israeli Holocaust memorial] and Jasenovac (an extermination camp where
Nazis and their Croatian Ustasha allies murdered tens of thousands of
Jews and hundreds of thousands of Serbs), they recognize the same vow.
'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,' says a
well-known proverb. This is exactly why we, the Serbs, have a duty to
remember – not to hate but to survive. And to prevent injustices from
recurring again, whether they affect our people or any other. I believe
you see the Serbian people as a true friend and a nation that knows what
suffering and freedom are. Both our peoples have learned that the price
of freedom is high, but the price of subjugation is even higher.
Therefore, we understand each other better than others. Therefore, we
stand by each other, in good times and difficult times."
Q: Israel built its
strength, among other things, on economic power and technological power.
Do you identify possibilities in these areas in Republika Srpska?
"We have resources,
knowledge, talented people – we lack peace that would allow us to make
use of all these. We have energy sources, agriculture, tourism, and
information technologies, but Sarajevo constantly tries to hinder our
development. Just as Israel refuses to let others determine its future,
we will not agree to become hostages of a political and bureaucratic
siege from Sarajevo."
Q: What is the reason that the Muslim majority in Bosnia tries to harass you?
"We don't ask for what isn't
ours, but we won't give up what belongs to us. Borders are sacred for
every nation, especially when they are anchored in international
agreements. For us, the borders of Republika Srpska are based on a
spiritual and historical foundation, and the international community
guarantees them. Dialogue is only possible when there is genuine mutual
respect. Bosnia's problem is that the Bosniak political elite doesn't
want compromise – they want supremacy, and that's not the path to
stability. We know that agreement should reflect compromise, not
surrender. Netanyahu showed it's possible when he signed the Abraham
Accords and built relationships with Arab countries while bypassing
extremists. That's the model we also want to promote."
Joining hands against hatred
The problem of Republika
Srpska is not limited to the expansionist aspirations of Bosnia's Muslim
majority, which repeatedly tries to erode its autonomous status. The
real difficulty, according to Dodik, lies in the fact that most European
countries, except for Viktor Orbán's Hungary, enable this. Due to
Bosnia's special structure, the position of external players carries
enormous weight – foreign judges are appointed to Bosnia's
Constitutional Court, and another foreigner serves as the High
Representative, an external administrator with very broad powers.
Managing a country through an
external administrator, who wasn't elected by its citizens at all, is
an absurdity in itself, but in the case of the current Representative,
Christian Schmidt, another component was added to the mix – the
appointment of the German Schmidt was not approved by the UN Security
Council, and therefore has no validity, at least in the eyes of
Republika Srpska's leadership.
Dodik has refused to follow
Schmidt's instructions, and as president signed a law passed by
parliament declaring that the rulings of Bosnia's Constitutional Court
have no validity in Republika Srpska. For these actions, he was put on
trial in Sarajevo. How can an elected leader of a political entity be
criminally prosecuted for signing approval for a law passed by a
majority vote – you ask? It turns out that in today's Bosnia, even the
impossible is possible.
But the indictment on an
obviously political charge was just a prelude. The real explosion, which
now threatens to dismantle Bosnia and perhaps even throw it back into
the fire of renewed war, came just as Dodik landed in Israel to
participate in a high-level international conference led by Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli.
First, the Bosnian court published the Serbian leader's sentence (one
year in prison and a ban on holding political office for six years), and
a few days later demanded that Interpol issue an international arrest
warrant against him.
Another politician might have
welcomed the sudden spotlight that landed on him due to the scandalous
ruling, but Dodik was mainly embarrassed. Embarrassed that media
attention was diverted from the main issue – the fight against
antisemitism for which he came to Israel – to the trivial and
sensational, "I came to the Jewish state to join hands in the war
against hatred of Jews. Antisemitism is evil, which unfortunately did
not disappear with the end of World War II. Today it takes new forms,
sometimes under the guise of concern for other causes, but in essence,
it's the same hatred toward Jews and Israel. Europe shows us that it
hasn't learned from the lessons of the past, and that should worry us
all. We don't divide Jews into 'good' and 'bad' and don't use double
standards. We know very well what it's like to be a victim and how it
feels when they want to exterminate you just because you exist.
Therefore, antisemitism will never have a place or foothold in Republika
Srpska."
"There are no coincidences in
politics," Dodik explains the timing of events, as tempers flared
around him and media outlets worldwide competed over who would give the
most dramatic headline regarding the arrest warrant raised over him. "At
the exact moment I arrived in Israel to speak against antisemitism,
extremism, and terrorism, Sarajevo takes an act of political and
religious hatred, which comes from the same people who marched in the
city streets with Hamas flags. Those who paraded with Hamas and ISIS
symbols demand my arrest just because I am in Jerusalem, because I stand
alongside a nation that knows what it means to fight for survival,
because I refuse to be silent in the face of voices of hatred against
Jews and Serbs, which are rising again in Bosnia. My message is very
clear – I was in Israel when they tried to silence me, and I will come
here again."
Seeking to impose foreign values
While Dodik's continued
support for the Jewish state is not in doubt, the future of his
conflicted country is shrouded in uncertainty, now more than ever. Any
violent attempt by the Bosniaks to arrest him could ignite actual
battles, but even without that, the shaky union of Muslims, Serbs, and
Croats is creaking and falling apart.
Added to the internal
tensions is the appetite of the powers, as almost everyone tries to pull
the strings. Brussels and Turkey for the Bosniaks, Hungary, Serbia, and
Russia for Republika Srpska, and Croatia for the Croats, of course. The
tangle is so severe that, as in other conflict cases, eyes are turned
toward Trump. Perhaps the savior from the White House will also untie
the Bosnian knot, especially since the similarity in worldview between
him and Milorad Dodik is simply amazing, and not just regarding their
unequivocal support for Israel.
It's no coincidence that the
president of Republika Srpska applauds the American president's
decisions and his war against radical Left movements. "The protests and
demonstrations against me, similar to the demonstrations against
Netanyahu in Israel, were funded by the same power centers – USAID and
other foundations that seek to shape the world according to their view
and impose foreign values on sovereign peoples," explains Dodik, adding
that he is convinced that the attempt of foreign influence and "deep
state" efforts will not succeed, "Trump, Netanyahu, and I all serve as
targets, not because we did something wrong, but because we are not
willing to surrender. They cannot defeat us in elections, so they turn
to other methods to remove us."
Similar to Donald Trump,
Dodik finds himself under a massive attack on another controversial
issue – he refused to open the door to Muslim immigration. "Republika
Srpska did not agree to become a collection center for migrants because
we know what it brings – damage to security, identity, and society,"
claims Dodik. "Again we see the difference between us and Sarajevo – we
protect law and order, while they are interested in irresponsibly
flooding the country with migrants under the guise of human rights
discourse."
As is customary these days,
Dodik also offered Americans to sign an agreement for the search and
production of rare metals, which may be present in Republika Srpska's
soil. According to him, there is feasibility for finding lithium,
magnesium, and other minerals in the eastern part of the region, and
their economic potential could reach $100 billion.
"I am convinced that Donald
Trump is the man who will liberate the world," Dodik declared after the
US presidential election, and it seems that in recent months he has only
strengthened in his opinion. Liberating the world is a heavy mission,
but perhaps a bit more possible when approaching it together. At least
as far as he is concerned, "the Balkans' Trump" is ready to walk toward
the goal alongside the original Trump, come what may.
