More than a month ago, and two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine,
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett flew to Moscow on a secret trip to meet
with President Vladimir Putin and offer his services as a mediator. He had also
made several phone calls to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the
same reason. But Bennett’s attempt to maintain a balanced stance on the Ukraine
crisis was short lived. Under US pressure, Israel voted to condemn Moscow’s
invasion in the US General Assembly last March.
اضافة اعلان
Few days later, the Russian embassy in Tel Aviv
conveyed Moscow’s “disappointment” with the Israeli vote. Less than a month
later, Israel voted to suspend Russia’s membership in the Human Right Council.
While Russia may have appreciated the delicacy of
the Israeli position, it could not forgive statements by Foreign Minister Yair
Lapid, on April 15, in which he defended his country’s vote accusing Russia of
“killing innocent civilians”. Lapid had tweeted on April 4 saying: “It is
impossible to remain indifferent in the face of the horrific images from the
city of Bucha near Kiev, from after the Russian army left. Intentionally
harming a civilian population is a war crime and I strongly condemn it.”
The Kremlin has had enough. On Monday Russia’s foreign
ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador in Moscow to protest Lapid’s
“anti-Russian attack”. A foreign ministry statement said that “there was a
poorly camouflaged attempt to take advantage of the situation in Ukraine to
distract the international community’s attention from one of the oldest
unsettled conflicts – the Palestinian-Israeli one”.
This was a rare rebuke by Russia of Israel, a
country with which Putin had built strong ties especially during Benyamin
Netanyahu’s term.
The diplomatic debacle prompted Israeli ambassador
to the US, Michael Herzog, to announce that “as of today, this [the Bennett
mediation] has not produced any breakthrough”, adding that “Bennett was no
longer in touch with Putin and is no longer leading the effort to mediate, as
he was a few weeks ago”.
The Bennett strategy to play both sides had failed
spectacularly.
Moreover, Putin called Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas on Monday to condemn Israel’s escalation at Al-Aqsa Mosque over the past
few days. According to an official Russian statement, the two leaders also
discussed negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, as well as “the problems of
the Middle East settlement in the context of escalating tensions in the West
Bank and East Jerusalem”.
Bennett, who faces domestic challenges as his coalition government struggles to survive, knows that Putin’s war in Ukraine is not popular among Israeli voters. If Israel heads to a new election later this year, voters will demand a stronger anti-Russian position. Bennett’s gambit has certainly backfired.
Putin assured Abbas that Russia will back the
Palestinians on the international stage and condemned Israeli forces’ recent
confrontation with Palestinian worshipers.
While Israeli officials told local media that the
situation was under control, in reality, the Russian reaction represents a
milestone in bilateral ties. Moscow’s annoyance with Lapid’s attack has to do
with the fact that Israel had welcomed more than 12,000 Russians, mostly Jews,
who escaped to Israel since the outbreak of the war last February, compared to
around 8,000 Ukrainian Jews. The Russians include critics of Putin, some with
political influence in Russia.
Lapid’s anti-Moscow stance may have to do with his
hopes to improve his standing among Russian and Ukrainian Israeli voters. There
are at least one million Russian Jews in Israel and at least half a million
Ukrainian Jews, the majority of whom emigrated in the 1990s.
But Israel’s ties with the Kremlin are strategic and
a diplomatic crisis at this stage will hurt Israeli national interests. Russia
has a major military presence in Syria and had so far looked the other way as
Israeli jets struck pro-Iran militias there.
Last Thursday a Russian military official claimed
that Syrian air defenses intercepted a missile that Israeli fighter jets had
fired at a target near Damascus.
Since the Russian military intervention in Syria in
2015, Moscow and Tel Aviv have coordinated in order to prevent direct clashes
between the Syrian regime and Israel. What worries Israel is that Putin may
withdraw from such coordination or, worse, allow the Syrians to use more
sophisticated air defense systems to foil Israeli strikes.
Another issue of concern to Israel is the fate of
the Vienna nuclear talks with Iran. Russia supports the Iranians in the
negotiations and is likely to move closer to anti-Western allies such as Iran,
China, and to some extent India, to break its diplomatic and economic
isolation.
Bennett, who faces domestic challenges as his
coalition government struggles to survive, knows that Putin’s war in Ukraine is
not popular among Israeli voters. If Israel heads to a new election later this
year, voters will demand a stronger anti-Russian position. Bennett’s gambit has
certainly backfired.
The
writer is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman.
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