The two countries have reached a General Security Agreement on the exchange and mutual protection of classified information in the field of defence, which will enter into force even before completing the procedure in the National Assembly.
Amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, Serbia has concluded an agreement in the field of defence and security with a country actively involved in two wars. Serbia and Israel, whose military is engaged in Gaza and against Iran, have reached a security agreement on the exchange and mutual protection of classified defence information, which will come into effect before undergoing parliamentary procedure in the National Assembly.
The document, seen by the BBC, states that it creates conditions for cooperation between state bodies and companies from the defence industries of the other country, as well as for the production of goods and provision of services for the needs of the security sector. Although it specifies that its contents are not classified, the signatories have agreed that “neither party, nor anyone acting on its behalf, shall publicly disclose or communicate anything related to the implementation of this agreement or any of its provisions”.
This form of defence and security cooperation for Serbia, which formally adheres to a policy of military neutrality, can be viewed from two perspectives, says Stefan Vladisavljev, Programme Director of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence. “One is the national perspective, and from that angle such a move is fairly routine, as Serbia, in line with its military neutrality, has cooperated with NATO members, as well as with Russia and China, and now with Israel,” he explains.
The second perspective is “geopolitical”, and viewed through that lens, such a move by the Serbian authorities may be “challenging to interpret”.
“It has not been common practice to conclude cooperation agreements with countries at war. With this agreement, Serbia may be implicitly signalling a position regarding the parties actively involved in the conflict in the Middle East,” Vladisavljev concludes.
For some opposition MPs, the agreement is “highly controversial” and deviates from established practice in the defence sector.
“It is unusual that the Government submitted the initiative to the competent committee, because the practice so far has been that any international agreement, after being reviewed by the relevant committee, is sent to a plenary session of parliament, where it is debated and adopted,” says Bogdan Radovanović, an MP from the Green-Left Front (ZLF) and a member of the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee, in a statement to BBC Serbian.
By adopting the document in the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, its “provisional application” begins immediately, which is deemed necessary “for the implementation of projects equipping the Serbian Armed Forces with weapons and military equipment” from Israel, the agreement adds.
The document will remain in force “for an indefinite period” until it is terminated in accordance with its provisions.
Secrecy and ‘urgency’
One of the most frequent words in the agreement is “secret”, which also appears in its title. Numerous articles outline the obligations of both parties not to disclose details of agreed deals and future cooperation. The agreement also defines levels of classification, explaining terms such as “internal”, “top secret” or “state secret”.
But why did Serbia and Israel need an additional document guaranteeing secrecy, which is already implicit in many defence and arms industry dealings?
MP Radovanović raised the same question at a session of the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee. “It was explained that the aim was to ‘harmonise practice and terminology’, but it was not particularly convincing,” he claims.
The use of classification is not unusual and serves to protect state interests, in this case, those of both countries, says Stefan Vladisavljev. “An important factor is also the current situation and Israel’s involvement in conflicts, and I would say that secrecy potentially protects Serbia from reactions by other partners it cooperates with. One of Serbia’s largest economic and strategic partners in international relations is China, which maintains very close ties with Iran,” he adds.
Due to the manner in which the act was adopted at the committee meeting, MP Bogdan Radovanović gained the impression that “there is a sense of urgency”. He says he asked officials from the Ministry of Defence to explain why the procedure was accelerated, but “did not receive a concrete answer”. He suspects the agreement may be linked to the procurement of weapons through the Israeli company Elbit Systems, which announced last August that it had signed a $1.6 billion deal with a European country.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced in April that Serbia and Israel would jointly build a drone factory, while the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Elbit Systems was behind the project.
“I also asked whether the agreement is connected to the factory and whether that company is involved, but I did not receive an answer to any of those questions,” Radovanović says.
Courts without jurisdiction
The document also explicitly states that any future dispute between the two parties “shall not be subject to any domestic or international tribunal or court, nor to any national or international law”.
In the event of disagreements, the competent security authorities will attempt to resolve them “through dialogue and negotiations” in an “amicable manner”.
If no resolution is reached within a maximum of 30 days, the matter will be handled by the head of the Directorate for Security of the Defence System within the Israeli Ministry of Defence and a body designated for that purpose by the Serbian Minister of Defence. Waiving the right to seek justice before domestic or international courts is not new for Serbian institutions.
“Even in some agreements with other countries, we have seen a complete transfer of jurisdiction to the courts of those states,” says Stefan Vladisavljev. As an example, he cites infrastructure projects jointly carried out by Serbia and China, where contracts stipulated that any disputes would be resolved before Chinese courts.
(BBC Serbia, Naslovi.net, 04.05.2026)