Israel, which often asks that its allies support it unconditionally, finds itself in the uncomfortable position of appearing to refuse to publicly criticize Russia, even when other countries with seemingly more at stake have condemned Putin’s war.
TEL AVIV, Israel — On the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett did not mention Russia. Bennett said he prayed for peace, called for dialogue and promised support for Ukrainian citizens. But he did not hint at Moscow’s involvement, much less condemn it — and it was left, as preplanned, to Bennett’s foreign minister, Yair Lapid, to criticize Moscow in a separate statement that day.
Israel also wants to avoid taking any action that might stir antisemitism against the hundreds of thousands of Jews in both Ukraine and Russia. Russian planes have been more active around Syria’s borders in recent weeks, both on the western border with Israel and in eastern Syria where American planes frequently operate, the senior Israeli defense official said. The uptick may have been a show of force intended to send a signal about the growing Ukraine crisis, the official added.
Within Israel, the war in Ukraine has divided Russian speakers along political lines, though not necessarily along national ones. On Thursday, as Russia began its invasion, the Russian-born owners of the Putin Pub, a bar popular with Russian-speaking Israelis in Jerusalem, removed the golden “P-U-T-I-N” letters from its facade and announced that they were seeking a new name for their bar.