Israel has every right to defend itself, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala wrote in a tweet alongside a Euractiv story about EU staff criticising President Ursula von der Leyen’s Israel stance, published on Friday.

In a letter seen by Euractiv, nearly 850 EU staff worldwide criticised European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s position of ‘unconditional support’ to Israel.

“Notably, we are concerned about the unconditional support by the European Commission you represent for one of the two parties”, EU staff stated in a letter sent to von der Leyen on Friday.

Euractiv understands the letter has been sent to EU delegations worldwide, including the European Commission’s representation offices.

They also write that they are concerned about “the seeming indifference demonstrated over the past few days by our institution toward the ongoing massacre of civilians in the Gaza Strip, disregarding human rights and international humanitarian law”.

Fiala reposted Euractiv’s article on X with a comment fully supporting the European Commission’s president.

“Israel has every right to defend itself after the barbaric Hamas terror attacks. Supporting Israel in this situation is the only possible and correct position,” Fiala posted.

“On the other hand, support for terrorist organisations that use civilians as human shields is unacceptable. The Czech Republic is on the side of Israel, and I am glad that Ursula von der Leyen is too. Madame president has our full support in this matter,” the prime minister wrote.

The Czech Republic is a strong supporter of Israel, and as Euractiv.cz already reported, Fiala supports the controversial relocation of the Czech embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

So far, only five states located their embassies in Jerusalem – namely, the US, Kosovo, Honduras, Guatemala, and Papua New Guinea.

Moreover, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský was the first European minister to visit Israel amid the ongoing war with Hamás.

Von der Leyen has not only received criticism from employees of the EU institutions.

Some EU officials and member states also criticised her for not declaring that the EU expects Israel to abide by international humanitarian law in its response to the Hamas attack.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an EU source familiar with the matter told Euractiv last week that particularly France shows “nervousness” every time von der Leyen backs Israel in public statements, fearing a potential backlash with its large Muslim communities.

The source stressed that one must understand France’s position, but at the same time, Paris needs to realise that “terrorist attacks must be condemned without fear”.