Despite the recent escalation between them,

Russia does not want to lose its strong relationship with Israel

  • Bennett held a 3-hour meeting with Putin as a mediator to resolve the war in Ukraine.

    Getty

  • Lavrov angered the Jews when he said that Hitler had Jewish blood.

    EPA

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Russia narrowly avoided what would become an escalation in a full-blown diplomatic crisis with Israel, one of the main countries to chart a neutral path throughout the war in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was speaking to Italian television last week, justifying the reasons for the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"Even if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a Jew, what's the difference?" Lavrov said.

This fact does not negate the presence of Nazi elements in Ukraine.” He added, “I think that the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, had Jewish blood as well.

This does not mean anything.

Reasonable Jews have said that most hard-line anti-Semites are usually Jews.

And every family has its own black sheep, as we usually say.”

Lavrov's recklessness

Despite the recklessness and recklessness of Lavrov's statements as they appear to the global audience, they seem consistent within the context of the path that Russia is currently traveling through, in its war against Ukraine.

The Russian political establishment has emphasized for years that Ukraine is a Nazi state, which not only adopts exclusionary policies against the Russian-speaking minority, but also pursues them.

Opinion polls have consistently revealed that these positions enjoy broad support among the Russian people.

According to the latest survey conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, 76% of Russians believe that "Ukrainian Nazi organizations" pose a threat to Russia.

The Russians agree that Ukrainian President Zelensky, despite his Jewish descent, placated and cooperated with Nazi Ukrainians when they were committing alleged "genocide" against Russian-backed separatists in the eastern Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

historical error

But Israel does not share Lavrov's assessment of President Zelensky or Nazism in Ukraine.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid denounced Lavrov's comments as "a terrible, scandalous, and unforgivable historical mistake" and added, "Jews did not kill themselves in the Holocaust, the lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame them for killing themselves for anti-Semitism." The Russian ambassador was summoned To protest Lavrov's comments.

Israeli newspapers and major Jewish organizations issued strong condemnations against Russia.

Israel and its calculated neutrality

The stakes are clear. Israel has pursued a kind of calculated neutrality since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, largely refusing to join the Western sanctions regime imposed on Russia.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sought to present himself as a mediator between the two sides to reach a settlement. He even flew to Moscow at the beginning of the war and held a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin for three hours.

But Lavrov's statements re-energized Russia's hawks in Israel, which complicates Bennett's mission to continue to take a position of neutrality as the war enters its third month.

"Lavrov's anti-Semitism means that Israel is no longer neutral in the Ukrainian-Russian war," said the headline of the Israeli newspaper, "The Jerusalem Post." As a first instinct, the Kremlin responded, endorsing Lavrov's already useless comments.

"We have noted the anti-historical comments made by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, which go very far in explaining the ongoing support of the Israeli government to the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv," the opening statement said, the lengthy statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. Ukraine's anti-Semitism, based on points taken from the Russian statement regarding an alleged increase in Ukrainian hate crimes against ethnic minorities, Zelensky's alleged involvement in fueling neo-Nazi sentiment, and the legacy of early 20th-century Ukrainian nationalist militant and activist Stepan Bandera.

The statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry concluded by saying, “Nazism and anti-Semitism, which is rising on a daily basis in Ukraine, are not suppressed, but rather encouraged.” This statement was accompanied by allegations made by the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, that Israeli mercenaries are fighting “side by side” in Ukraine. With the Azov Battalion of Nationalist Hardliners.

Putin apologized or not

But Israel is no less severe than the Russians in the issues that it considers vital to it, including the Holocaust, which has always been a central issue to it.

But it is realism that wins in the end, as Moscow wants to ease, not escalate the dispute.

Putin called the Israeli prime minister last Thursday and offered Israel what Bennett's office described as an apology.

"The prime minister accepted President Putin's apology for what Lavrov said, and thanked him for clarifying the president's position on the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust," Bennett's statement said. Lavrov.

The two statements referred to what appears to be a confluence in historical memories related to the major events in the Second World War, with the Israeli Prime Minister, where he stated that the Israeli Prime Minister referred to the “decisive participation of the Red Army to achieve victory over Nazism.” The Kremlin’s reading emphasized the importance of the Israeli-Russian joint symbols by saying In the run-up to Victory Day, which is celebrated in both Israel and Russia on May 9, both Putin and Bennett emphasized the special significance of this date for both countries.

A quick end to the dispute

The Russian-Israeli anti-Semitic feud ended as quickly as it began.

The rapid change in the Russian position, culminating in Putin's call with Bennett, is still not entirely clear.

The Kremlin may have come to the conclusion that it cannot provoke the wrath of a neutral country that could play a key role in future peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine due to subtle differences in interpretation of history.

Russia celebrated the victory over Nazi Germany last Monday, May 9.

This celebration has grown in popularity since 2014 to become the most important holiday in the country, according to a recent opinion poll.

• The victory of the Red Army over Nazism in World War II became a mainstay of Russian national identity in the years following the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

• The Russians agree that the Ukrainian president, despite his Jewish origin, seeks to appease the Nazis in Ukraine and cooperated with them when they were committing acts of alleged “genocide” against Russian-backed separatists in the eastern Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The Ukraine war marks a return to the Eastern Front

The response of the Russian Foreign Ministry against Israel was a reflection of the Kremlin's uncompromising approach to historical memory.

The Red Army's victory over Nazism in World War II became a mainstay of Russia's national identity in the years since the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Russian politicians and politicians view the war in Ukraine as a return to the Eastern Front in World War II.

As in 1941, Moscow sees itself as waging a campaign to rid the world of a genocidal Nazi government.

Mark Epscopes ■ National Security Correspondent for The National Interest

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