Israel Criticises 'Anti-Semitic' Bosnian School Name

The Israeli embassy for Bosnia and Herzegovina, headquartered in Tirana, sent Bosnia's foreign minister a protest note about the decision to rename the Dobrosevici Elementary School in Sarajevo after what it called the "controversial and anti-Semitic personality" Mustafa Busuladzic.

The note was sent on August 23 but the Alliance of Anti-Fascist Associations and WWII Fighters in the Sarajevo Canton made it public on Tuesday.

"The Embassy of Israel reiterates its sincere regret that the Authorities of Sarajevo Canton approved such a move especially considering the fact that the vast majority of the Bosnian Jewish community was brutally killed by the hand of the fascist and Nazi occupying forces with which Mr Bursuladzic identified himself," the embassy said in the note.

"Such an unfortunate act clearly undermines the rich multi-ethnic and cosmopolitan spirit of which is Sarajevo and its Bosniak community is very proud," it added.

The embassy said that a Jewish community has existed in Bosnia and Herzegovina for over 450 years but that "such a decision undermines the deep historical bonds between our peoples".

Busuladzic is a controversial in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with some people seeing him as a martyr and a victim of the Yugoslav Communist regime, while others point out that he was a prominent associate of Croatian fascist-allied Ustasa occupying forces during World War II, and that his written opinions often reflected Nazi ideas.

Immediately after coming to power, the Communist authorities arrested him, and then executed him on June 29, 1945.

In October 2016, the Sarajevo Canton Assembly accepted the proposal that the elementary school in Dobrosevici be named after Busuladzic.

However opposition parties protested,...