Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that Serbs and Jews stood together throughout history and were supporting each other today.

The Serbian state TV (RTS) reported that he opened his speech at the annual AIPAC conference in Washington speaking in Hebrew and English.  

“Serbs and Jews have a lot in common. We shared a common fate in World War 2 in the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia. I am proud to say that we always had good relations with the Jews throughout history and will do everything we can to promote our relations,” Vucic said.  

He said that the Serbian Chamber of Commerce would open its offices in Jerusalem soon along with state offices.  „We’re going to open very soon not only an office of our Chamber of commerce but, together with our chamber of commerce, an official state office in Jerusalem with a Serbian official flag alongside our embassy in Tel Aviv,“ he said.

Vucic recalled that the was the only head of state to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp by flying a yellow flag with the star of David on the Serbian presidency building. “This was how the Germans marked Jews in WW2, that was their way of humiliating Jews and my way of saying that this is a point of pride to have this flag flying over the presidency,” he said.  

Vucic said that Serbia was the first European country to adopt a law dealing with the seized property of Holocaust victims who have no heirs, adding that more than 30 million Euro have been paid to the Jewish communities in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Subotica. He said that the Serbian parliament recently adopted a law on the Staro Sajmiste (Lager Semlin) Memorial Center in memory of the Jews, Serbs and others killed by the Nazis there in WW2.