It would seem that Sergei Lavrov is now under house arrest after his ill-advised comments about Hitler being half-Jewish and Israel's support of the neo-Nazis in Ukraine. Peskov has become the front man for the Kremlin, and Putin issued an apology of sorts for Lavrov's comments on Hitler. Israel accepted this apology but didn't say anything about the Kremlin likening Zelenskyy to a Nazi, which it has repeatedly done. I suppose the two countries' vested interest in Syria keeps Israel from being too critical of Russia.
I never really understood this approach to Ukraine. Yes, there are some ultra-nationalist elements in Ukraine, namely the Azov Battalion, but they don't represent the government. Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, leads a young dynamic government that has been openly democratic in its approach. But, the Azov Battalion has been fighting in Donbas ever since 2014 and to some degree had gained the upper hand before this war broke out in February. So, this is how Putin chooses to characterize the entire country.
Zelenskyy has been careful not to call too much attention to the battalion, as it is currently trapped in the Azov Steelworks and represents the last line of defense in Mariupol, thereby achieving a heroic status in this war. One of the problems in fighting a multi-front war like this is you see all sorts of unsavory elements arise in defense of the country that in times in peace would be opposing each other. An enemy of my enemy becomes my friend, sort of anyway. Ukraine is certainly not monolithic in character.
Yet, that is how Russia chooses to characterize Ukraine. The Kremlin has repeatedly referred to the government in Kyiv as a bunch of drug dealers and neo-Nazis, belying the "pragmatic image" Putin had previously cultivated among Western leaders. It doesn't matter how many times it is pointed out that Zelenskyy and many of his ministers are Jewish, the Kremlin persists in this characterization. Yet, to this point Israel has hardly batted an eyelash. PM Bennett got upset over the characterization of Hitler as half-Jewish, a myth that has persisted for decades and many persons accept as "common knowledge."
I would think that Israel has a pretty big stake in Ukraine. Odessa has a long and storied Jewish history, and many Israelis have roots in the city. Many Jews continue to live in Odessa, a thriving seacoast town that is apparently next on Putin's hit list. That is not to say it has been a tumultuous history with much persecution, but most of that persecution came at the hands of the Russian government, beginning with Nicholas I in 1835, and becoming progressively worse under successive tsars. There were also sizable Jewish communities in many other Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Lviv and Sevastopol, a Crimean city that is now under Russian control. Yet, Israel has opted for a position of neutrality in this war, and seems overly accommodating toward the Kremlin.
This has befuddled Western leaders, as they thought Israel would be one of the first countries to come to the defense of Ukraine. Israel has sent medical units to Ukraine, and continues to provide a great amount of humanitarian relief, but has refused to aid Ukraine militarily. Zelenskyy has repeatedly asked Israel for its vaunted missile defense systems, but has been denied each and every time. Instead, Ukraine has had to make due with Bayraktar drones from Turkey, and missile-defense systems from the US and UK, which have served him well.
Israel has taken a quixotic turn in recent years, largely the result of the war in Syria. Ever since Russia crushed the uprising in the embattled country, Israel has been working with Russia to quell Iranian deployments in Syria, which has greatly reduced attacks on Israel. It is important to both countries to maintain this relationship, so it was no skin off Putin's nose to offer a lame apology to brush this Hitler thing under the rug. As for Lavrov, he will need to be more careful what he says in the future.
How much this harms Israel's relationship to the US and the West remains to be seen. By siding with Russia in Syria, Israel essentially turned its back on the West, which was half-heartedly supporting the rebels. The lack of any real commitment in Syria to the uprising resulted in the refugee crisis that plagued Europe from 2011 onward. It is also why many outside observers view the West's unconditional support of Ukraine as hypocritical. The diasporas from these two countries are virtually identical, yet Ukrainians have been whole-heartedly embraced in Europe, whereas Syrian refugees endured countless hardships. Either way, Israel didn't care as long as it maintained peace along its border with Syria. Self-preservation being paramount in Jerusalem.
However, there is a limit to Putin's aggression. I don't imagine an assault on Odessa will be very well received in the Knesset. So, the Russian bully boy may bide his time, using the apparent lull in fighting to consolidate his new territorial gains, possibly even absorb them into Russia as he did Crimea, and wait to fight another day. After all, he has to make a big show of victory for May 9 to keep anxious Russians content that he is winning his war against Western imperialism.
Still, the virulent rhetoric continues. In Putin's mind, the government in Ukraine is illegitimate. He regards it as a puppet state of the West, which Russia has long regarded to be neo-Nazi. In the Kremlin's mind, it was the Soviet Union that won the war over Nazi Germany at Stalingrad, seeing its former allies as German appeasers. Israel took advantage of the upheaval in Europe to declare its nation state, which over time the West was pressured to accept.
Lots of uneasy relationships that are impossible to sort out, but until this war directly impacts Israel, it will remain a neutral bystander.
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