Russia’s President Putin and PM Bennett discuss war in Ukraine, Bennett offers to mediate
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday and updated him about “the course of the special military operation to protect Donbass,” the Kremlin press service reported.
PM Naftali Bennett and President of Russia Vladimir Putin. (Koby Gideon/GPO)
Putin assured Bennett that Moscow remains open to talks with Kyiv, but informed him that Ukraine’s leaders have shown “inconsistency” on the matter and are yet to make use of the opportunity.
“It was noted that the Russian delegation is situated in the Belarusian city of Gomel and is ready for negotiations with representatives from Kyiv, who, showing inconsistency, have not yet taken advantage of this opportunity,” the Kremlin said in a summary of the phone call between Putin and Bennett.
Kyiv has turned down the option of talks in Belarus, which has joined Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
The Kremlin said that in response Bennett offered Israel is a mediator to bring about a ceasefire.
In addition, it was agreed to continue bilateral Russian-Israeli contacts at various levels.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the two “discussed the situation between Russia and Ukraine.”
Israel has attempted to remain neutral on the crisis between the West and Russia, and was one of the only Western countries that did not condemn Russia harshly and unequivocally for its actions in Ukraine. With ties with Moscow and Kyiv and a large Jewish community in both countries, Israel does not want to be perceived as taking sides in the conflict.
Russia’s Sputnik news reported Sunday that Russia summoned Israel’s ambassador to Moscow Alexander Ben Zvi on Friday to “ask why Tel Aviv supports neo-Nazis” in Kyiv after Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned the Russian military operation in Ukraine as a “serious violation of the international order,” an apparent Russian diplomatic reprimand of Israel.
Kyiv was also not happy with Israel’s conduct and statements and Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky was summoned last Thursday for a clarification conversation at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, a diplomatic reprimand, following the publication of a telephone conversation between Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister and Israel Foreign Ministry Director-General Alon Ushpiz.
Brodsky explained at the meeting that the conversation between Jerusalem and Moscow had two purposes: to convey a message of de-escalation and to express concern for the security of Israelis.
Israel is between a rock and a hard place, what with having to liaise with Russia about its necessary action in Syria vis-a-vis any movement of arms from Iran through Syria with terrorism in mind, and the Jewish communities in both Russia and Ukraine.
That said, the extremity of the morality of the matter and the fact that Putin is not only a narcissistic autocratic dictator, but also obviously both reckless and delusional, surely must be very seriously considered by Israel.
The likeness between Putin’s behaviour and Hitler’s in the early stages of invasion and the kind of rhetoric we hear from Putin which does not allow for any reason and shows him to be a liar and a propagandist, makes him not worth listening to. So how can Bennett listen to him and offer to be a mediator? It’s farcical. Chamberlain tried appeasement with Hitler and all that did was waste precious time that would have been better spent preparing to fight. Given history and what that did to the Jewish people, how, really, can Bennett (and Israel) be neutral? In the long term it will backfire.