Romanian ambassador criticizes Israeli diaspora minister over call with controversial political candidate

Romanian Ambassador to Israel Radu Ioanid expressed shock and disappointment on Sunday upon learning that Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli had a phone conversation with controversial Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu.

Georgescu has faced widespread criticism for past comments praising notorious Romanian antisemites and Nazi collaborators.

Ioanid called Chikli “meshugeneh” ("crazy" in Yiddish) and demanded an apology. 

“I am deeply hurt, and I think that Mr. Chikli owes us an apology,” Ioanid told the Times of Israel.

He criticized the diaspora affairs minister for engaging with a political figure with a known problematic past. 

“I find it shocking to see a minister of the government of the State of Israel be perceived as backing, in a crucial electoral moment, a Romanian political candidate who is loudly and proudly glorifying historical figures who were directly responsible for [the] mass murder of Jews,” stated Ioanid.

The controversy stems from Chikli’s phone call last Thursday with Georgescu, who had previously expressed admiration for figures such as Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, leader of the antisemitic Legionnaire Movement, which called for a radical nationalism in Romania based on a religious and ethnic basis. 

Chikli made the call to Georgescu after the latter reportedly said he planned to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Bucharest, move Romania's Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, and institute a zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism. 

Chikli retweeted an article about Georgescu’s claims but later deleted the tweet. 

Ioanid is a Holocaust scholar and the premier researcher on the Holocaust in Romania during World War II. He is also a member of the founding team of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where he has worked for over three decades. 

Ioanid published books about the Holocaust in Romania, including, "The Ransom of the Jews: The story of the Extraordinary Secret Bargain between Romania and Israel," which reveals the secret agreement between Israel and Communist Romania, enabling Jews to emigrate in exchange for payments made by the Israeli government.

The Romanian ambassador is skeptical about Georgescu’s promises to move the Romanian embassy and to take a harsh stance against antisemitism, describing them as "cheap tricks." 

“It’s a cheap trick," Ioanid said. “I didn’t hear him saying this before, and I don’t think, by the way, if God forbid, he’s elected, that he’ll be able to do it.”

He said such gestures should not be taken seriously, especially given Georgescu’s past praise for Codreanu and support for pro-Nazi Romanian Prime Minister Ion Antonescu, under whose rule over 280,000 Jews were killed. Georgescu has even called Antonescu a “martyr” when referring to his execution in 1946 for war crimes. 

Georgescu ran independently after leaving the far-right party, "Alliance for the Union of Romanians," and had achieved similar success to other right-wing European politicians in recent elections, securing 22% of the vote despite predictions of only 10%. His controversial views and apparent support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, including backing the invasion of Ukraine, have made him a polarizing figure.

The ambassador warned that Chikli’s actions could harm Israel-Romania relations if perceived as an attempt to interfere in Romanian politics.

Ioanid said that Romania always showed respect and friendship to Israel,” including after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

“No Romanian official has ever taken the liberty to get involved in internal Israeli electoral matters,” he added.