Israeli-Ukrainian Relations Deteriorating Rapidly

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Written by Lucas Leiroz, journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant

Relations between the Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime and the Israeli Jewish State appear to be worsening. Some recent events are damaging Ukraine’s position in Israeli foreign policy. Despite both countries being great partners of NATO powers, the differences between them seem clear, preventing advanced cooperation projects from taking place.

​Israel is undoubtedly the US’ greatest ally in the Middle East, having a foreign policy completely in line with Washington’s interests. However, the country maintains a more rational policy towards Ukraine than most Western states. Despite there being evidence of secret support for Kiev, including in intelligence, Israel publicly refuses to send weapons to the Ukrainian regime, as the country maintains important pragmatic relations with Russia and is not interested in harming its diplomacy.

For months, this has generated public criticism from the Ukrainian government. As well known, for Zelensky and his team, the material conditions and diplomatic well-being of partner countries are of no interest, there is a type of global “obligation” to help Ukraine unconditionally. For this reason, the Ukrainian president has repeatedly made negative comments against the Israeli regime, demanding a more active stance in the conflict as well as the systematic sending of weapons.

These criticisms began shortly after the start of the Russian special military operation and increased over time. Israel’s stance in the conflict has been the same since February 2022: political and humanitarian support for Ukraine, without sending – at least publicly – weapons. Since Netanyahu returned to power, friction between both countries has become even more evident on some topics. The Israeli Prime Minister and Hungary’s Viktor Orban are the only Western leaders who have so far refused to visit Kiev.

It took months for Netanyahu and Zelensky to have their first meeting, which took place in September during an event at UN headquarters. On the occasion, Netanyahu tried to alleviate bilateral problems and focus on an issue of high interest to Tel Aviv, which is the safety of Jews and Israeli citizens during the traditional pilgrimage to the Jewish holy site of Uman, in Ukraine. Zelensky, however, was impolite and rude in his talks and tried to blame Netanyahu for the insecurity of the Jews, linking this to the lack of weapons supplies from Israel.

“Netanyahu called me and asked for my help to reach Uman. He told me there were bomb shelters for only 11,000 people and 30,000 pilgrims were expected to arrive. I told him that if Israel would send us the missile defense system, it would help protect his citizens (…) The responsibility for the safety of tens of thousands of Jews who come to pray at Uman during the Jewish year, is on the Israeli government that does not do enough”, Zelensky told journalists commenting on the meeting.

And apparently the Israeli authorities did not take the necessary precautions to make the pilgrimage happen safely. There were no Russian attacks on Jewish civilians during the religious celebrations, but the absence of security measures by the Ukrainian police led to a series of incidents during the festivities, resulting in deaths and injuries. Ukrainian authorities also arrested seven Israeli citizens at the time, generating even more concern from Tel Aviv.

In the same sense, it is important to emphasize that before the pilgrimage, another point of tension had already started between both countries because of an Israeli citizen arrested in Kiev. At the time, Ukrainian-Israeli Jewish oligarch Igor Kolomoisky was captured by Ukrainian forces accused of corruption, money laundering and fraud. In fact, Kolomoisky was once one of Zelensky’s greatest allies, having even financed his election campaign in 2019, but apparently he became a target of the purge campaigns promoted by the neo-Nazi president in his desperate attempt to avoid a coup d’état against him.

Since Kolomoisky is an Israeli citizen and has great influence over the global Jewish community, his arrest is obviously viewed with fear and concern by the Tel Aviv’s authorities. In addition to worries about the oligarch’s personal safety – considering that Kiev is known for widely practicing torture and human rights violations against prisoners – there is also fear about the possibility of the Ukrainian government using repression against Jewish citizens as “blackmail” to pressure Israel to increase its aid to the regime.

Previously, Zelensky has reportedly revoked or taken steps to revoke the Ukrainian citizenship of Jewish oligarchs living in the country. Formally, Kiev prohibits the existence of dual citizenship, but in practice this is widely tolerated in the country, with many people having nationalities other than Ukrainian – mainly in the Jewish community, where many Ukrainians are also Israeli citizens.

Indeed, what appears to be happening is simply the neo-Nazi regime showing its true nature. Obviously, a Junta that venerates leaders like Stepan Bandera has a strong anti-Semitic tendency, despite trying to disguise it. As far as Israel is concerned, it is unlikely that the country would want to harm its ties with Russia because of Ukraine. Moscow could damage Israel in several areas, especially in Syria, where both countries have a military presence.

Only a very substantial worsening of Moscow-Tel Aviv relations could lead Israel to take a more active public stance in favor of Ukraine. Zelensky’s pressure does not seem to be enough to achieve this objective. On the contrary, the more Kiev harms Jewish citizens on its territory, the more bilateral ties with Israel will deteriorate.

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