Yossi Schwartz, ISL the section of the RCIT in Israel/Occupied Palestine, 25.07.2022
For many years Israel tried to have close relations with both the Western imperialists and with the Russian imperialists. Yet the souring of relations began in April this year. The close relations began with Mikhail Gorbachev that under his regime one million Russian Jews were permitted to immigrate to Israel. Furthermore, the relations between Israel and Russia became closer when Israel opposed the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia as well as the Israeli support for IMF loans to Russia. This was the time when the butcher Ariel Sharon was the Foreign Minister of Israel before he became the PM of the Zionist state.
For Putin the fact that more than one million citizens of Israel speak Russian was very meaningful for him as he said that Israel is part of the Russian cultural world [1]. In 2014, Russia began importing fruits and meat from Israel when the U.S. and the EU imposed food sanctions on Russia at the time Russia annexed Crimea. At the same time Putin declared that he supported Israel in the war on Gaza [2].
The repression of the Arab revolution by Russia gained pace in 2015 when the Zionist PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Putin met 9 times to coordinate their actions in Syria.
During the Presidential elections of the USA in 2016 Israel lobbied Tramp to end the sanctions on Russia and Tramp was friendly to Russia. In December 2016 the Zionist delegation to the UN GA skipped the meeting to condemn Russia for war crimes in Syria [3].
In 2018, Israel refused to condemn the poisoning of Sergei and his daughter Yulia Skripal in Britain by Russian agents. In that year Trump and Putin met and agreed to coordinate the activities of Russian and American imperialism to protect Israel [4].
In 2019 in the UN GA Israel refused to condemn Russia for the annexation of Crimea. In February 2019 Netanyahu announced after his visit to Moscow that Russia supports the removal of Iranian fighters from Syria.
At the beginning of 2020, Israeli foreign ministry official stated that Russia expected Israeli assistance in ending Western sanctions on the Syrian government in return for permitting the continuation of Israeli airstrikes in Syria [5].
Nevertheless, the love relations between the two imperialist bandits began to deteriorate after the Zionist Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid spoke out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and former PM Bennett offered humanitarian aid to the Ukrainians.
After avoiding the condemnation of Russia which was criticized by the Biden administration Israel later voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution condemning the invasion [6].
On 20 April 2022, the Zionist Minister of war Gantz announced Israel is sending protective equipment such as flak jackets and helmets to the Ukrainian emergency services [7].
In May 2022 Russian FM Lavrov said that Hitler “had Jewish blood” and the “biggest Anti-Semites tend to be Jews” referring to Ukrainian President Zelensky. Lapid the FM of the Zionist state demanded an apology and Russia responded by saying that the “Israelis lack historical knowledge” [8]
And then came Biden’s visit to the Middle East with the attempt to build a military alliance of the USA, Israel, Egypt, the kingdoms of Jordan, Morocco and the Gulf states.
Russia understood this move as an attack against her and reacted to the Justice Ministry’s request on Thursday to shut down the Jewish agency’s activities in Russia. The new acting PM Lapid stated: “that the forced closure of the Jewish Agency’s offices in Russia will have a serious impact on Israel-Russia relations” [9]
“A participant in the meeting said that Russia’s actions are “an attack on the heart of the essence of the State of Israel. There is real fear that the aliyah [Jewish immigration] from Russia will stop, and therefore the Israeli government is investing as much time and effort as needed.” [10]
In Israel the Zionist mass media speculates why Russia acts against the Jewish Agency and not against Israel in Syria. Some claim that Russia is stopping the escape of brilliant brains. Others claim that Russia is afraid of Israel’s military technology. Most likely the real reason is that Putin does not want to be engaged in two wars at the same time.
In time we will know more, but it is possible that Russia will provide the Syrian army with more advanced heavy weapons to force Israel to stop the attacks on Syria. Meantime we can say a few things we are certain about. The Stalinists’ claim that Assad’s regime is an anti-imperialist is nonsense in light of the mutual understanding between the two bandits Israel and Russia. For the same reason the false rumor that Israel was on the side of the rebels in Syria has been fake news.
The conflict between Russia and Israel is a conflict between two imperialist states and the interest of the international working class is revolutionary defeat for both. At the same time, we do not object to the closure of the reactionary Jewish Agency acting to rob the Palestinians.
Down with the Israeli and Russian imperialists!
Endnotes:
[1] Claire Sutherland, Elena Barabantseva Diaspora & Citizenship (Routledge 2013), page 88
[2] President Putin: I Support Israel – the Federation of Jewish Communties of the CIS” 2017
[3] “Netanyahu orders Israeli mission to skip UN vote on Syrian war crimes”. Ynetnews. 27 December 2018
[4] “Trump, Putin Vow to Cooperate on Syria, Ensure Israel’s Security”. Haaretz. 16 July 2018
[5] Ben, Shaiel “Putin calls on Netanyahu amid struggle for Syria”. Asia Times. (15 January 2020).
[6] Magid, Jacob “UN General Assembly, including Israel, votes overwhelmingly to condemn Russia”. The Times of Israel (2 March 2022).
[7] Jeffay, Nathan “In policy shift, Israel to send flak jackets and helmets to Ukraine”. The Times of Israel. (20 April 2022).
[8] “Russia says Israel supports neo-Nazis in row over Ukraine”. Reuters. 3 May 2022
[9] Zvika Klein, Lahav Harkov “Lapid: Closing Jewish Agency offices will impact ties with Russia” Jerusalem, Post 23 July
[10] Ibid