​(Communicated by the President’s Spokesperson)

President Reuven and Mrs Nechama Rivlin today (Monday 26 November 2018), held an official welcoming ceremony for the President of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, and his wife, Ivana Zemanova, who are on a state visit to Israel. The Czech President was welcomed in an official ceremony during which the two national anthems were played and the two presidents reviewed an IDF honor guard. They then made statements to the press and continued for a working meeting during which they discussed strengthening relations between Israel and the Czech Republic.
 
President Rivlin welcomed the Czech president and his wife to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. “You are a close friend of the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” said the president at the beginning of his remarks. “I grew up in Jerusalem and have spent my whole life in this city. But I also know, Mr President, that you are one of Jerusalem’s closest friends. Your support for Jerusalem is a special gift for us on our 70th anniversary. We are so thankful for your support for relocating the Embassy of the Czech Republic to Jerusalem. Your recent statements are a clear sign of your support for this, and we hope that it will become reality in the near future. According to the Bible, Jerusalem is the city of peace. I believe that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital will not harm the prospects for peace, but will actually help bring peace.”
 
President Zeman of the Czech Republic thanked the president for his warm welcome and said, “I am very happy to be here today and I am looking forward to meaningful conversations with you and with the prime minister, and to my speech at the Knesset which will begin with the most important word of all – Shalom (Peace).” The Czech president said he was deeply inspired by what he heard of President Rivlin’s views, and that he did not believe in a two-state solution. “I do not see how an independent state can be created in Gaza because Hamas promotes a state of terror,” he said.
 
During their meeting, President Rivlin emphasized, “Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. It cannot be a Jewish state without being democratic, and cannot be democratic without being Jewish. When I was born there were 250,000 Jews in Israel. Today, after 70 years of independence, we are nine million citizens of whom seven million are Jews, and it is clear that we need to find a way to live together. We were not doomed to live together; we were destined to create a wonderful future together.”
 
The president continued, “the Jewish people returned home to its land and the Arabs who lived between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea are with us, and we must find a way to live together. If we build trust, we can get to an agreement. We share land, a sea, railways, links to Arab states. We can be a bridge to the Arab world and the Middle East. But first of all, our neighbors must remember that Israel’s existence is a fact.”
 
President Rivlin thanked President Zeman for his deep friendship over many years and said, “the rifle I used as a young soldier was Czech. Israel’s first pilots were trained in Prague, as were our first paratroopers, including Haim Guri who passed away this year. Generations of Jews flourished in Prague and the links between the Czech people and Israelis is a matter of historical record. It is a great honor to welcome you here, and to thank you for your support for Israel in Europe. Thank you, my friend.”