The pro-Israel European leader you haven't heard of
President of Bosnia's Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik has been a controversial figure because he has stood for his people. Most recently he was issued an arrest warrant while attending a conference in Israel. He spoke with Israel Hayom exclusively.
Ariel Bulshtein
Israel Hayom
April 4, 2025
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.
