Croatian President Zoran Milanović has refused for seven months to approve the appointment of Israel’s ambassador to the country, Nissan Amdur, because of the policies of the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel’s government approved Amdur’s appointment in November 2025 and submitted a request for agrément — diplomatic approval — to the Croatian president’s office, in line with standard diplomatic procedure requiring a host country to approve a foreign ambassador’s appointment before arrival.
But Milanović has refused to approve the appointment, leaving it stalled for seven months. It is the first time in Croatia’s history that a president has withheld approval for the appointment of any ambassador. Israel’s current ambassador to Croatia, Gary Koren, is due to end his term at the end of the month and return to Israel. Because of the president’s refusal to approve Amdur’s appointment, it was decided that Amdur would arrive in Zagreb as chargé d’affaires, a role that does not require presidential approval, and wait for the situation to be resolved.
Croatia is facing a severe internal crisis between the president, a left-wing politician associated with the communist-left school of former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and the Non-Aligned Movement, and the right-wing government. Against the backdrop of that dispute, Milanović has refused to approve appointments of Croatian ambassadors around the world. Croatia’s ambassador to Israel, for example, has been serving in the country for eight years and has not left only because the government cannot reach agreement with the president on appointing a replacement.
Milanović has a history of sharply anti-Israel remarks. In March, he harshly criticized Israel’s ambassador to Croatia, Gary Koren, after Koren said members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were operating out of the Iranian Embassy in Zagreb for intelligence gathering and support for terrorism. Milanović told reporters he had summoned the ambassador to the presidential office and made clear to him that he would not sow public panic or harm Croatian interests. The president also warned that Croatia would not tolerate “foreign germs” on its soil — “neither Israeli nor Iranian.”
A source familiar with the details said relations between Croatia and Israel are good. “This is an internal dispute within Croatia between the president and the government, as part of which the Croatian president is refusing, among other things, to approve appointments and replacements of Croatian ambassadors around the world. He is a problematic political figure who in the not-so-distant past made clearly anti-Israel and antisemitic remarks.”
The Foreign Ministry said in response: “The Foreign Ministry is working with the Croatian Foreign Ministry and the Croatian government to resolve the status of Israel’s next ambassador in Zagreb.”