Miloš Zeman, the president of Czech Republic, gave the following speech last Monday at a reception to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. Many thanks to Gemini for the translation from the official text posted at the Czech government’s website.
Speech by the president of the Czech Republic at the reception held to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day
May 26, 2014
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me thank you for the invitation to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. There are dozens of days of independence being celebrated every year in the Czech Republic. Some I may attend, others I cannot. There is one I can never miss, however: it’s the Israeli Independence Day.
There are states with whom we share the same values, such as the political horizon of free elections or a free market economy. However, no one threatens these states with wiping them off the map. No one fires at their border towns; no one wishes that their citizens would leave their country. There is a term, political correctness. This term I consider to be a euphemism for political cowardice. Therefore, let me not be cowardly.
It is necessary to clearly name the enemy of human civilisation. It is international terrorism linked to religious fundamentalism and religious hatred. As we may have noticed after 11th of September, this fanaticism has not been focused on one state exclusively. Muslim fanatics recently kidnapped 200 young Christian girls in Nigeria. There was a hideous assassination in the flower of Europe in the heart of European Union in a Jewish museum in Brussels. I will not let myself being calmed down by the declaration that there are only tiny fringe groups behind it. On the contrary, I am convinced that this xenophobia, and let’s call it racism or anti-Semitism, emerges from the very essence of the ideology these groups subscribe to.
So let me quote one of their sacred texts to support this statement: “A tree says, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. A stone says, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” I would criticize those calling for the killing of Arabs, but I do not know of any movement calling for mass murdering of Arabs. However, I know of one anti-civilisation movement calling for the mass murder of Jews.
After all, one of the paragraphs of the statutes of Hamas says: “Kill every Jew you see.” Do we really want to pretend that this is an extreme viewpoint? Do we really want to be politically correct and say that everyone is nice and only a small group of extremists and fundamentalists is committing such crimes?
Michel de Montaigne, one of my favourite essayists, once wrote: “It is gruesome to assume that it must be good that comes after evil. A different evil may come.” It started with the Arab Spring which turned into an Arab winter, and a fight against secular dictatorships turned into fights led by Al-Qaeda. Let us throw away political correctness and call things by their true names. Yes, we have friends in the world, friends with whom we show solidarity. This solidarity costs us nothing, because these friends are not put into danger by anyone.
The real meaning of solidarity is a solidarity with a friend who is in a trouble and in danger, and this is why I am here.
— Miloš Zeman, president of Czech republic, Hilton Hotel, 26th of May 2014
Gosh, a country leader with guts. Oh, if we only had one.
we do!
I hope PC = political cowardice catches on; the more we use the term, the more cultural Marxism/political correctness will be seen for what it is.
Milos Zeman – I think I love you.
Wow! A European leader with both brains and guts! Who even knew there were any left?
People of character often come through the crucible of hardship. They say a political conservative is “a liberal who has been mugged by reality”. This man understands the evil of Communism and Fascism and speaks from that understanding about “another evil” Islam.
He’s actually a left-wing liberal. See below…
One of many such “left-wing liberals” in that part of the world 😉
This seems to be a case where labels are irrelevant. I have no idea what his economic programs are, but they can’t be any worse than what is being foisted on us in the US.
Some of the sparks of freedom have now become a spotfire!
We All Need “Leaders” Like Him (President Of Czech Republic) Because People Like: Barack Obama (US), Stephen Harper (Canada) and Tony Blair (UK) Are Such Cowards, Liars and Uses “Political Correctness” Because They’re Too Scared To “Offend” So What They Do? Nothing!!
The “Biggest Example” Is ISLAM Which NONE Of These Leaders Above Are “MAN” Enough To Tell The Truth That It’s NOT A Religion Of Peace and It Promotes “Global Domination By Fighting Jihad Which Muhammad, Their False Prophet Commands Them Muslims).
Yankee, The UK Prime Minister is now David Cameron not Tony Blair although I can understand anybody who cannot tell the difference.
It could be Ed Milliband, for all I care…
Check politicians are probably the only European politicians who have the guts to say what they mean. The rest are scared of their own Muslim population and their PC media.
I think it will be increasingly interesting when the two nuclear power of Western Europe (England and France) will be governed by a Muslim “peace-activist” with his fingers on the start button of missiles with nuclear payload.
And it’s just matter of time.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/422752
You meant “Czech” not “Check “
Uh…Yankie007 you seem to be challenged on which leaders are cowards. You can’t count Stephen Harper (Canada) amongst them. There are numerous examples of him standing up where other Countries’ Leaders haven’t ie Obama and Cameron (not Blair).
Harper visited Israel openly in the face of Obama’s subterfuge with the Muslim Brotherhood and demands of Israel. Harper has voiced many times Canada’s official stance against actions by extreme groups aka Muslim Terrorists. You can throw in visiting the newly elected Leader first by a Western Leader, where others still haven’t.
I am happy to assist in correcting you with the facts.
Have a good day, eh.
Sorry missed Ukraine in body of text above re: newly elected leader visit.
Sling, you are absolutely correct. Harper stands up to the terrorists unlike any other Western leader. Our government recently brought in strict new laws governing crimes committed by foreign nationals on our soil. In June we enacted a new plan to combat human trafficking and recently expelled 20 Hungarians for exploiting new immigrants to Canada. http://www.conservative.ca/?p=1288
Milos Zeman is a leader who reads, who knows the history of his nation.
The parallels between the historic Czechoslovakia and the modern state of Israel could not be more obvious, nor more compelling.
Just prior to WWII, Czechoslovakia was a dynamic, modern democracy, neighbored by two fascist, socialist, aggressive, expansionist states. Czechoslovakia had a modern army, and well-planned, strategic defenses of it’s borders. The only thing Czechoslovakia did not have was the support of the so-called “free” countries, Britain, France, and the rest of West Europe. The leadership of Britain negotiated a surrender of Czechoslovakia, and though Czechoslovakia could have fought, and likely would have totally decimated the German army, it nevertheless surrendered, de-moralized by the cowardice and weakness of those countries who should have been its strongest supporters.
We have in the present, the state of Israel, a strong, independent democracy, sheltering all types of citizens, including a significant proportion of Muslims. Israel has the capability of decimating attacking armies, likely keeping the fascist aggression of Islam at bay for decades. Israel’s fate is also linked to stronger, supposedly “free” countries, a worldwide boycott of Israel’s financial, trade, military, and educational resources held off only by the wavering strength of the United States, and the veto it wields.
Like Czechoslovakia, the defeat of Israel will only encourage the forces of fascism and totalitarianism. The breaching of Israel’s defenses will open the free world to pressures it never imagined, and ultimate victory would be neither cheap, nor certain.
The leadership of Czechoslovakia is in a unique position to recognize the importance of supporting the strong, independent state serving as the bulwark against a tide of oppression and horror. Like the state of Israel, Czechoslovakia was accused of persecuting a minority, as the excuse for declaring it outside the boundaries of the protection of civilized countries.
Beautifully written and compelling, RonaldB!! Kol Hakvod–all the honor to you…and to Czech President Zeman, of course!
Exposing and defeating the Counterfeit Humanists and their Islamic allies is the moral duty of every right thinking person, for the sake of Israel and all Western civilization.
If you read Eric Metaxas book about Bonhoeffer you learn that the German Generals were ready to have Hitler declared insane if he gave the order to invade Czechkoslovakia (Bonhoeffer’s father was a leading psychiatrist). Then along came Neville Chamberlain, on his first airplane ride ever, deep into Germany to meet with Hitler and surrender Chechoslovakia.
Dear :RonaldB : Why “western democracies” like such common sense and logic? We are afflicted by dhimmi governments, that we re-elect mindlessly and call themselves “democracies” , spy on their own people and pat down native people while letting Niqabbed muslim women pass without inspection because the “have different culture” a twisting of words of actual reality ” They are afraid of Muslim women. Have you seen a white 7 years old child and a white 70 years old being inspected at air ports thoroughly, followed by 3 veiled women passing haughtily by, already the masters of the country.
There is some hope. See Australia’s ‘democratic’ booting out of prime minister determined to use her out-dated ideology to impoverish Australians in the name of some unprovable “good”. They are about to repeal the ruinous carbon tax, if they haven’t already.
The only thing Czechoslovakia did not have was the support of the so-called “free” countries, Britain, France, and the rest of West Europe…
And that same treacherous group, the US included, would sell out Czechoslovakia again, in a heart beat.
Not to mention Poland.
Yes, dear Dymphna, unfortunately western countries are also guilty as much as Hitler and Stalin. Some truth we dare not say. Did Napoleon have the tight or reason to invade Russia just because Russia at that time was trading with Britain, Napoleon’s arch enemy.
Leaving Czechoslovakia at the mercy of Hitler was treachery. Poland told Britain that they needed weapons to fight not empty rhetoric, as it is now. Western politicians talk a lot and do nothing. Don’t we remember that gnome Tony Blair’s speech after Londonistan bombing, when he said that “the rules of the game have changed”. But what were the rules of the game? No British person asked? Blair meant that Muslims would not launch any attacks on British soil as long as Tony Blair was importing muslims and promoting Islamization of individuals, women, Banks, and other institutions.
I am scared to death that horrible universal wars will break out Muslims/islamists against everyone, and the rest will appease them, lie like cowards, stay passive. When western dhimmis are still strong and are so abjectly servile to muslims that’s what scares me. You can’t appease a vicious enemy. There is no middle way: either you crush him or will be crushed. That’s has been the case since Cain. Where did the western people develop these deadly attitudes and after so many years of studying and wars that one would think would have benefited the western people.
…unfortunately western countries are also guilty as much as Hitler and Stalin…
That is a moral equivalence I refuse to accept. Ever. Yes, it was treachery to leave Czechoslovakia to the ‘mercies’ of Hitler. But that is not the same as being responsible for Hitler’s existence or behavior.
Responsibility has to be meticulously allotted or it becomes meaningless cant. The Left uses this blunt instrument – moral equivalence – all the time. Such accusations cause others to disengage, withdraw, and simply ignore the person proposing such a claim.
You are right, the Westerners are not responsible for Hitler and his deeds, but are responsible for accepting Stalin’s agents of influence and the following politics of “convergence” which BTW is still going on as we speak. Stalin deed covertly what Hitler had the guts to say out loud. Both wanted world dominance each on of them on the account of the other. A long plethora of authors from both sides of the “aisle”- East and West – have proven this sad truth. Today we have the Ummah that gives the west the marching orders. I take my hat off in front of the Czech president.
I just read: “Orderly and Humane” – when describing the “Czech and Slovak” republic before the WWI, one has to suspend logic to describe it as a “modern democracy”. Among other outcomes of the WWI, the very creation of this country “Czechoslovakia” fermented that soup that gave rise to the Nazis and the violent upheavals that followed. One has to have read “the brave soldier Schweijk” (or for YU matters, Ivo Andric) to appreciate the benign nature of the Austro-Hungarian (and German) empire that preceded this “modern democracy”.
Today, the Czech republic is ethnically cleansed, not just of Germans but Jews and others alike (many were treated as Germans after WWII).
Nevertheless, there are new generations of “Czech” that recognize the wrongs. Let bygones be bygones, but lies are lies.
Cheers to those young Czech.
Standing ovation for Milos right here in front of my computer… BRAVO MILOS! BRAVO!!
Seems the clarity of thinking runs with Czech leaders, to wit, this above article and the recent comments by Vaclav Havel talking about the problem with the U.S. is not (necessarily) the current occupant of the White House, but with a nation full of people who would install such a leader.
Real strength comes from leaders like this. Not from a country like mine, the USA. We may have the strongest military and nukes galore, but with a Commander-in-Chief like we have now, we may as well have the least significant military on earth. I just hope I live long enough to see the people who voted for this less-than-zero person realize what they have done. But I doubt they will. As long as their “smart phones ” work they could be living under National Socialism and I doubt if they would even notice any change.
Truly astounding these days. A leader who speaks the truth. A man who understands history and it’s lessons.
Check out this article at the young conservative red website red millennial http://redmillennial.com/2014/05/27/the-religion-of-peace-strikes-again/ All about the threat of Islamists.
We are ‘allowed’ to ‘see’ Nazism for what it was; cruel and barbaric. We are not allowed to ‘see’ islam for what it is because it is supposed to be of ‘equal’ value. The difference, of course, is that nazism was a ‘white man’s’ barbarism whereas Islam is a ‘brown man’s’ barbarism. Tell me where the real ‘racism’ is.
The objective of PC/MC is to solely wipe out the ‘white man’ and his Judeo-Christian culture, somebody around here hates anything that is rooted in the pages of the bible….
And anyone who reads the bible knows who it is.
As much as I disprove of much of our Mr. President’s opinions and expressions thereof, now I feel proud of him.
ouch! But what will a certain “Peaceful minority” in the Czech Republic have to say??
Btw, a few details about President Zeman’s political background…
Political party:
Communist Party (1968–70)
Civic Forum (1990–1991)
Civic Movement (1991–1992)
Social Democratic Party (1992–2009)
Party of Civic Rights (2009–present, honorary chairman)
Can we imagine any major politician possessing similar allegiances in Western countries espousing such views? 🙂
Milos Zeman ‘s speech gives you the hope that eastern european nations might yet save the western part from itself
The Czechs were in the forefront of those in Europe trying to shake off Soviet totalitarian domination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_77
When I was at university the Left were denouncing as a “Nazi” the libertarian professor who had packed-out meetings with representatives from Charter 77 speaking at our university.
These are the same Leftists who would now be denouncing Geert Wilders, Nigel Farage, or Tommy Robinson as “Nazis”. The only difference now, is that it is impossible to imagine someone like my libertarian professor being employed at a British university. And it is equally impossible to imagine that such a university would tolerate a contemporary (ex)muslim speaking about the need to destroy islamic domination.
Bill Warner recently compared the fight against islam in the west with the fight of those in the USSR to get rid of communism. I think it was in doing this, that Bill realised that we are only 30 years into what was a 60 year programme that lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and that we are unlikely to win because in 30 years time the demographics of western Europe will mean we are outnumbered, even if we have won all the arguments. Bill’s subsequent series on the need to change tactics seem to stem from his realisation that time is against us.
yes, that’s the all-important point… time is against us. So should we play “cautious”, or throw everything into attack, like a team 1-0 down with 10 minutes to play?
Outstanding! The Czechs have loved liberty since Jan Hus fought for freedom from the Church of Rome, a century before Luther.
Makes me even more ashamed of the way we Brits treated them in the 1930s and ’40s.
Respect
Reading a science fiction novel where the world’s mad dictator has a billion people fitted with obedience-inducing strangulation collars – it would appear that many of leaders today already have these fitted when it comes to discussing Islam and its works. Occasionally one or another strays off message like Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson did recently only to capitulate in short order after a warning twitch of the community’s collective eyebrow.
Which makes Milos Zeman’s speech all the more surprising, refreshing and entirely welcome.
I admire you, President Miloš Zeman. God bless you.
Why in the whole western world you can only find one or two leaders here and there. Your courage is comparable to that of Wilders and Ann Barnhardt. Such were/ should be the attitudes and attributes of leaders of real democracies. Not to be abject cowards and stupid dhimmis kissing the feet of Islam. Today’s leaders are selfish, arrogant after being mandated by the voters. Electing them makes them conceited, self-confidently arrogant, and they do what ever they like after elections, usually decisions against their own countries and people, and in favor of promoting islamisation, shariah, and conditioning their voters to accept dhimmitude and muslims as masters. To hell with cowards.
Why are democracies volunteering to be servile and dhimmis . . . is satan at work? Is this a prelude to a cataclysm? Can anyone explain why the western mind is so perverted and confused: Geert Wilders is a Nazi, but help Muslim Brotherhood to gain power in Egypt, USA and Britain. THe French and the Swedes have already surrendered to avoid conflicts because they are humanists and not bigoted to adhere to some useless dogmas. Bravo democracies, the best system of rule. HHAAA
Direct democracy doesn’t work. But that’s not what has gone awry throughout the West. The system we have – or rather, had – could best be called Representative Republican rule. IOW, ‘the people’ chose their representatives via the ballot box.
But that system has long since been corrupted. When it did work, it functioned in small, homogeneous groups where those with a stake in the outcome were able to check and balance one another’s power.
This current form of rule – kleptocracy – is on a downward slide headed toward some kind of break. Chaos is certain, but the outcome can’t be predicted because there are too many unknowns in play and they make even our assumptions questionable. What we do know now are (1) some of the laws of physics as they apply to human behavior, and (2) some of the laws of karma. We have seen repeatedly that (3) those mills of God grind exceedingly fine. That troika – physics, karma, and history – will work things out. Eventually.
It is highly unlikely that any of us will be here by then, but our descendants will be. Thus it is worth our efforts to attempt to affect the outcome. Because you never can tell…
Your question regarding evil is a valid one. Here is a classic answer:
The Screwtape Letters: How a Senior Devil Instructs a Junior Devil in the Art of Temptation
The Germans have an expression: when courage is lost all is lost. It’s that simple: the West has lost courage. If we think of the West as a person (after all, a representative member of The Establishment is the West, for all practical purposes) that person is a coward. And what is the mark of a coward? Self-loathing. Beneath the surface assurance, self-loathing. Such a person is furious with anyone who calls a spade a spade. In this case calls the West dhimmi vis-a-vis Islam. Since the fury of the West will only be turned on those who sound the alarm and never on the Muslims, no matter how awful their assaults on what’s left of former Western liberties and decencies, I have no hope that the West will save itself. My only hope, and this is not particularly original with me, is that a massive economic implosion will occur, creating conditions of such extreme stress in the general population that The People, both here and in Europe, clean house i.e. revolt. Will it be messy? Very. But I see no peaceful way to survive what’s coming…or is it already here?
We can use a president in the Netherlands and this gentleman is perfect for the job!
Great speech. I’m surprised the BBC didn’t cover it.
I’m not!
I was joking! I know the BBC would sooner go off air, than publicize such views by a head of state.
I have no Czech blood, but I wish I did!
Jan Masaryk
Josef Mindszenty
Vaclav Havel
Vaclav Klaus
Milos Zeman
The names speak for themselves.
Don’t forget Jan’s father, Tomas G. Masaryk, who not only was the “father” of Czechoslovakia and its first president, was a great liberal thinker and humanitarian.
Also the less political. I was at the Museum Narodny (national museum) and in a room they had busts of famous Czechs. It was filled with Authors, playwrights, artists, musicians, theologians (e.g., Jan Huss) but only one military leader – and he was blind! Jan Zizka (from the Hussite wars – early 15th cent).
When a culture hero’s are playwrights and musicians (including foreigners) and not military leaders, it’s not that surprising to see a list of politicians like you listed.
N.B. Karl Capek is one of my favorite.
you gotta love someone who will tell the unashamedly tell the truth in love.
This should not have been a hard speech for any Czech president to deliver. Well, maybe a little harder for Zeman if he stopped in the Hilton Hotel bar to rehearse knock a few back and then required assistance to the podium.
Fact: there are many more Russian speaking citizens living within the borders of the Czech Republic than Muslims so perhaps the Czech government should concern itself with the brutal annexation of a sovereign nation of parts of Ukraine by Russia speaking separatists; and maybe they are. The Czech national memory of the Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland is eerily familiar in 2014. Fortunately, under the leadership of the former Czech President, Vaclav Havel, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and then Senator Joe Biden the Czech Republic became a member of NATO. It’s just too bad that Ukraine only has Partnership for Peace status and not full NATO membership. No one should ever confuse Vaclav Klaus and Milos Zeman with Vaclav Havel.
Well we know that Scary Kerry and Valerie Jarrett won’t let the narcissistic brat read that speech.
Wake up you Western’s, American’s, Canadian’s and Australian’s. You are NOT sleeping BUT I will say you people are still in COMA!
Your enemy is NOT Muslim BUT the Koran and Islam.
Thomas H. Arthur.
(www.easywaytoheaven.co.uk).
Islam must be repulsed from the West. There is no good reason to allow such an intolerant and genocidal ideology in our midst.
How marvellous that a European President is prepared to speak publicly on this subject. The Czech Republic has a bright future if his mindset and courage become a national zeitgeist.
How appalling that the BBC didn’t report it – it has moved from being a propaganda outfit to an outright censor of news as well. That of itself is a significant and disturbing development.
To Yankel007,
Please do your homework. Stephen Harper is a staunch supporter of Israel as is the new Australian Government.
My congratulations to the President of the Czech Republic for his speaking the obvious, the fortitude to tell the truth. This blight, this scourge of islam has been at war with ALL of humanity for 14 centuries, even with itself as evidenced by the Shiite and sunni endless slaughter of one another.
The President quoted a couple verses from the Koran or hadiths of islam regarding killing of Jews. There are many more, dozens in fact that call for the mass slaughter of ANYONE that is not muslim. The GOAL of islam after all is to have islam practiced ONLY….AND NOTHING ELSE
I can at least say that as I face this world and my God as I trod this earth and later on through eternity, nobody will be able to say to me….”why didn’t you say something or do something” in dealing with this hideous, satanic system called islam”……..because I have said…..and I WILL SAY…..
When a vociferous, violently fanatic group in a huge under-educated, God-fearing and gullible population, claims its power through a mandate from God Himself, the results are hugely catastrophic and almost impossible to avoid. It has gone too far to be controled. Violence will breed greater violence.
The Problems started long ago when Political Correctness attempted largely successfully to eliminate the Fact that Islam and it’s Minions were Allies of the Nazi regime.
Hundred’s of Thousands were murdered by the Muslim SS in the Balkans and the War in Sarajevo and Bosmia was basically a Payback for Muslim Atrocities committed during WW2 by two Full Divisions of Muslim SS.
The Leader of Islam at the Time Al Husseini the Mufti of Jerusalem escaped British and Commonwealth Forces in Palestine fleeing to Iraq then courtesy of Mussolini ended up in East Berlin.
It was not until Al Husseni turned up in Berlin that the Nazi methods of stealing Jewish wealth and deporting Jews changed to wholesale slaughter and Death camps.
The West has Cowardly under the Auspices of the United Nations facilitated a Lie about the Islamic involvement during World War Two.
Then Consider the United Nations where as with the future threat of Islam in Europe and Elsewhere the Principle of Democracy is used as a weapon by the third world because in the General Assembly the West is Outvoted by some 65 Muslim nations plus other Third World Reprobates such as Rwanda, Zimbabwe and others.
For any Hope for the Future for freedom Loving People the UN must be destroyed to unshackle the response of People who are in Truth Fighting for Survival against the Black Evil that is Islam