Russia’s Relationship with Israel Clearly Strained
Jewish leaders fear rise in antisemitism
President Putin was on cordial terms with Israel and the Jews for decades, but since the Ukraine conflict, relationships between the two countries have become strained.
In 2008, Putin established visa-free travel between Russia and Israel. In 2012, construction of the Moscow Jewish Museum took place in the Russian capital. There was mutual support and understanding between the two countries.
Then in 2020, the Russian president stood alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah to unveil a memorial to Holocaust victims. The two men seemed to be on amicable terms.
However, since the recent terror attacks, President Putin has been remarkably quiet, not expressing sympathy, nor condolences to Israel in light of the horrors that unfolded around Gaza, says the New York Times.
Instead of engaging with the Israeli leader in a sympathetic fashion, Mr Putin’s spokesperson simply said Russia was “extremely concerned” while calling for the conflict to end.
Some pro-Kremlin bloggers have interpreted recent events as indicators of Western weakness, which may adversely affect Western support for Ukraine.
The lack of Russian condemnation of the terror events in Israel shows how much relationships between Moscow and Israel have declined since the Ukrainian war began. And some Jewish leaders are afraid that there may be a rise in antisemitism within Russia.
The New York Times reported:
The Kremlin’s arms-length stance toward Israel in recent days “is definitely a manifestation of a deteriorating relationship,” said Pinchas Goldschmidt, who served as the chief rabbi of Moscow for nearly 30 years until being forced to flee the country last year because, he said, he refused to support the war in Ukraine...
He added that many Jewish leaders had once seen Mr. Putin as an ally in keeping the memory of World War II alive, but when the Russian president started falsely equating Ukraine’s current government to Nazi Germany to justify an invasion, “that’s when the Jews said: ‘We’re not part of it.’”
More from me…
- Ukraine Chief of Defence Says Putin is Dead, There’s a Body Double, & Other Rumours
- Is Putin’s Ill Health Making Him Crazy? Rumours He’s Dead Are Probably Untrue!
- Russia’s Satan 2 Nuke Could Wipe Out the UK in Seconds
- As The Threat of WWIII Looms, One Man is Prepared Like No One Else!
- Where Would You Go In The Event of Nuclear War?
- Will Russia Launch a Nuclear Attack?
