Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s visit to Moscow made him the first Western leader to sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. The visit was highly significant for Israeli interests. Although Israel, like most countries, is concerned about the humanitarian toll on Ukraine, there is a longterm strategic angle to the Bennett trip that includes Russia and Iran. While globalists, Communists and Islamic supremacists continue their steady stream of uniquely crafted propaganda in their pursuit of a bigger piece of the global pie, the general public is left trying to decipher the truth amid the dizzying number of reports and op-eds.
One of the most misguided comparisons made in the West about the Russian invasion of Ukraine involves the drawing of a parallel between Ukraine and Israel because Ukraine has a Jewish president. Israel is a Jewish state; Ukraine is not. It is a disservice to Israel for anyone to muddle Israel’s identity with Ukraine due to the Jewish identity of the Ukrainian president. There are many reasons for concern about Ukraine: it has a horrific history of persecuting Jews, and it currently grapples with a big corruption problem, a Nazi problem, a World Economic Forum problem, and the longtime influence and interference of George Soros’ Open Society Foundation.
Ukraine has a .4-.5% Jewish population; Israel has not abandoned these people, and is resettling many Jewish refugees and going far beyond that as well: fully 90% of the refugees arriving in Israel are ineligible to immigrate according to Israel’s Law of Return. Israel has found itself so overwhelmed in its generosity that the exceptional flow of refugees has prompted Foreign Minister Yair Lapid to develop a “more balanced” policy.
Aside from Israel’s concern for life, which it consistently proves (from providing medical treatment to Palestinian jihadis to its rescue response in the great Haitian earthquake of 2010), its strategic interests in the Russia-Ukraine crisis cannot be ignored. Four months ago, Israel and Russia were collaborating on the common goal of ousting Iran from Syria, and established a “deconfliction hotline to keep the sides from getting tangled up and accidentally clashing over Syria.”
This was despite the long history of cooperation between Russia and Iran. Israel’s interest in keeping Iran out of Syria is a priority, given that Iran has been entrenching itself near the Syrian border with Israel, prompting Israel to launch a new phase in its campaign to protect itself from Iran’s jihad against it, as well as from Iran’s proxies, such as Hizballah.
Israel’s association with Russia still holds priority during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Benjamin Netanyahu was wise to instruct his government to “be quiet on Russia” and focus on Iran, the archenemy of Israel. So when Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett flew off to the Kremlin to try to broker peace, it should have registered that there had to be another salient matter at hand in Israel’s interests, as the whole world is trying to broker peace. And indeed there was. Outside of global politicking, Israel must focus on its survival, which Iran threatens. According to the BBC:
Israel has significant relations with both Russia and Ukraine…. But Mr Bennett was flying into something he sees as strategic in the crisis. “Israel has also developed frequent dialogue with the Russians, or “our neighbours to the north” as one official reportedly referred to them recently. Russia controls the skies over Syria, where Israel routinely carries out air strikes. It says it targets weapons transfers and militants linked to Iran, the country it sees as an existential threat.”
Although the BBC states that “the relationship dynamics of one regional crisis are becoming entangled in another,” the Russia-Ukraine crisis of course has a gargantuan impact on the world at large. The interests of virtually every ideology is in some fashion wrapped up in this crisis: democracy, Nazism, Communism, globalism, and Islam. In the meantime, innocent people are suffering. For those who also have an interest in Israel’s survival, Netanyahu’s advise should not be dismissed.
“Israel’s Bennett plays peacemaker in Ukraine-Russia war,” by Tom Bateman, BBC, March 9, 2022:
Early in the morning, as Russia’s isolation grew, a jet took off from Tel Aviv bound for Moscow. It happened in secret, carrying a VIP delegation. The plane touched down with a reverse thrust: a hot blast into Moscow’s dawn while Russia was being frozen out by the West.
This was last Saturday – incidentally the Jewish Sabbath, when tradition says the rest day can be broken to save a life. Onboard were at least two observant Jews working when they normally wouldn’t – Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Housing Minister Zeev Elkin, plus four officials. Mr Elkin was there, it was said, to help with the translation. He’s a native Russian speaker, born and brought up in Kharkiv, the Ukrainian city under relentless Russian bombardment. He has close relatives there; now he was going to meet the war’s architect.
The Israelis headed to the Kremlin. Mr Bennett was the first foreign leader to speak to Vladimir Putin in person in response to the invasion of Ukraine. We don’t know much about the meeting, whether they were sat six metres (20ft) apart across that glossy white table (the treatment European leaders got in the run up to war). None of the substance leaked at the time. There was nothing to see and little to hear. An invisible liaison.
But the meeting itself was the story. Could Israel be the unlikely broker in the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War?
News of the meeting was released as it reached its third hour, making global headlines.
Israel has significant relations with both Russia and Ukraine, and Mr Bennett had been trying to position himself as a go-between.
There are some immediate concerns for the Israelis. There are at least a quarter of a million Jews in Ukraine, eligible to make Israel their home under its “Law of Return”.
But Mr Bennett was flying into something he sees as strategic in the crisis.
Israel has also developed frequent dialogue with the Russians, or “our neighbours to the north” as one official reportedly referred to them recently. Russia controls the skies over Syria, where Israel routinely carries out air strikes. It says it targets weapons transfers and militants linked to Iran, the country it sees as an existential threat.
Now the relationship dynamics of one regional crisis are becoming entangled in another.
