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Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid flew to Riga, Latvia, today to meet with Secretary of State Tony Blinken. A statement from Lapid’s office said the goal of the meeting was to discuss efforts by Western nations, China and Russia to reach a deal with Iran on its nuclear program and express Israel’s opposition to a return to the previous agreement signed in 2015, as well as the situation in Ukraine.
Lapid’s visit comes on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s visit to Moscow on Saturday – a rare trip over the Sabbath – to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to mediate the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and ensure Israel’s continued security arrangements in Syria.
Following the meeting, Bennett spoke via phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before traveling to Berlin on Saturday night, where he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who had days earlier visited Israel. After his return to Israel, Bennett spoke to Zelensky two additional times, and spoke again to Putin as well as to French President Emmanuel Macron.
An Israeli official who briefed the media following the trip said Bennett’s trip was coordinated with the U.S., Germany and France. In addition to the crisis in Ukraine, the prime minister also discussed the situation facing Israelis and Jewish communities in the region and the status of the Iranian nuclear talks in Vienna.
Joining Bennett on his trip to Russia and Germany was Housing Minister Zeev Elkin, who was born in Ukraine and still has family there. Shimrit Meir, Bennett’s foreign policy advisor, and spokesman Matan Sidi also accompanied him on the trip.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday. This will be the first high-level meeting between an Israeli leader and the Turkish president in more than 14 years and is viewed as a sign of warming ties between the two countries.
plenipotentiary
The Czech ambassador’s simple, influence-winning motto: ‘Be interesting’

Ambassador Hynek Kmoníček (Hilary Eldrige for Jewish Insider)
In the ornate sitting room in the Czech ambassador’s official residence in Washington, D.C., the walls are covered not in Central European art or other local artifacts, but an eclectic assortment of souvenirs from Ambassador Hynek Kmoníček’s excursions around the world. From a crimson-and-gold-upholstered armchair, Kmoníček points to a full crocodile skin hanging on the wall and begins to explain its provenance. “I was negotiating in Sudan, and I needed to prove I am macho enough,” Kmoníček said casually. The unique assortment of objects reflects Kmoníček’s idiosyncratic tastes, but it also gets at the key thesis of his diplomacy. “If we want to be heard, we must be interesting,” he told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutchin a recent interview at his residence.
Get involved: Sometimes, of course, even an ambassador from a small landlocked Central European country finds himself enmeshed in global geopolitical conflicts. The challenge these days for Kmoníček is not only standing out in Washington but standing up on the international stage for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as his embattled nation faces an onslaught from Russian forces. The Czech Republic has sent ammunition, fuel and medical supplies to Ukraine, and has also been at the forefront of advocating for a strong Western response to Putin’s aggression. Kmoníček called Putin’s actions in Ukraine “a danger for all of Europe, and to face it, the key is the absolute unity of all the allies.”
Renaissance man: Even when the Czech Republic does not find itself embroiled in a Continental land war, Kmoníček, 59, has a lot to offer that will interest diplomats, politicians and members of the public alike. Born and raised in Pardubice, a city of 90,000 some 60 miles east of Prague that is best known for its chemical factory, Kmoníček plays classical guitar and can speak several languages, including Arabic, Russian, some Hebrew and a bit of Tatar (his wife’s native language).
Personal discovery: The Hebrew came from a year he spent in Israel in the 1990s, during a “real roller coaster” of self-exploration — he discovered he was Jewish in his mid-20s, and soon after, he went to study at Hebrew University in Jerusalem as part of a program for Jewish leaders in the Diaspora. Kmoníček’s mother revealed her Jewish lineage after hiding it from him during the country’s socialist years. During the era in which Kmoníček grew up, a good Jew “celebrates his Christmas and never heard about Hanukkah,” he said.
Israel attitude: “I still consider it as my home ground,” Kmoníček said of Israel, while acknowledging that his Hebrew has not quite held up over the years. Today, the Czech Republic is one of the most pro-Israel countries in Europe, a tradition that dates back decades. Every time a new leader is elected in the Czech Republic, Kmoníček fields calls from friends and officials in Israel questioning the new administration’s stance on Israel. “I try to explain [that] because the public mood in [the] Czech Republic is traditionally so much pro-Israeli, that it’s suicide for any politician to go against that sentiment,” he said.