Israeli Prime Minister Neftali Bennett was alleged to have made a secret diplomatic mission to Moscow earlier this month. According to a ZeroHedge report, Bennett did so in efforts to mediate the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. He visited Russian President Vladimir Putin and informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesky and French President Emmanuel Macron of his visit to Moscow before it became known to the public.
Following three hours of meetings in Moscow, Bennett then went to Germany to meet up with Chancellor Olaf Scholz to talk about the Russia-Ukraine war and other pressing issues.
Bennett’s visit took place during a time when Russian and Ukrainian officials have negotiated ceasefire talks in the last few weeks.
In time, Russia has offered 4 conditions for Ukraine to submit to in order to end the conflict.
According to Russian Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, the four conditions that had to be fulfilled by Ukraine were:
- Ceasing of military action against Russia
- The recognition of Crimea as Russian territory
- Recognizing the sovereignty of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics
- Amending Ukraine’s constitution to have it serve as a neutral buffer state between Russia and NATO
Initially, Ukraine and Western countries have been opposed to the Russian government’s demands due to the enormous concessions of territory Ukraine would have to agree to.
According to sources such as the Times of Israel, the Jerusalem Post, and several Ukrainian outlets, Bennett talked with Zelensky on March 8 and gave him tough advice. Namely, to accept the terms Putin offered.
Initially, the Israeli government denied such allegations.
However, the sources that broke the news about Bennett’s comments to Zelensky noted that the Israeli Prime Minister took it upon himself to initiate the phone call. Bennett suggested to him in the call that he accept the Russian’s terms of surrender.
He was reported to have said to Zelensky, “If I were you, I would think about the lives of my people and take the offer.”
Zelensky was not very enthusiastic about Bennett’s advice. He apparently responded, “I hear you.”
Ukrainian officials took Bennett’s comments as a call to surrender to Russia.
In addition, the report stated that Israel has allegedly requested Ukraine to stop its requests for Israeli military or defense assistance. Israeli officials reasoned that this could impede Jerusalem’s attempts to be an impartial mediator.
However, it appears that the Russians don’t want external mediators and would prefer to deal with Ukraine on a bilateral basis.
Overall, Israel’s relations with Russia and Ukraine are intriguing. In fact, Israel has solid relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Both countries have decent sized Jewish populations — Russia (roughly 180,000) and Ukraine (ranging from 360,000 to 400,000). In Israel, there are 900,000 Russian Jews.
This puts Israel in an interesting spot with regards to both countries. Moreover, Russia is already involved in the Middle East as seen in its presence in Syria and its heightened military cooperation with Iran. Any Israeli efforts to antagonize during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, could result in Russia investing more resources in and bolstering ties with Syria and Iran — moves that would annoy the Israelis.
Curiously, Israel has relatively normal relations with Russia. It’s one of the few “Western” nations that has not sanctioned Russia extensively, nor provided massive arms to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Israel has exercised similar restraint with regards to its relations with China, where it has not been particularly enthusiastic about condemning and sanctioning China for its authoritarian practices like other Western countries.
Given the geopolitical changes the world is currently going through, Israel will have to navigate it carefully like most other countries in the region. 20th century assumptions about geopolitics are over as we enter a new era that’s more Eurasian focused.