The Ukrainian Embassy in Israel attacked Jerusalem on Sunday for not taking a more forceful stance against Russia, a day after a short-lived mutiny by the mercenary Wagner Group humiliated the Kremlin.
The embassy, which echoed a similar attack by Ukrainian officials over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not visiting the war-torn country to show solidarity, said that it was disappointed by the Israeli government's apparent growing support for Moscow and for allegedly making up excuses not to stand by Kyiv.
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The embassy said it "regrets that the current Israeli government has opted for a path of close cooperation with the Russian Federation," citing the "series of rather controversial events that took place in the first half of 2023, coinciding with the near absence of Israeli humanitarian assistance to Ukraine."
It singled out the "fruitless visit of the Israeli Foreign Minister [Eli Cohen] to Ukraine this February and a series of interviews by Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu with media outlets including the most recent one with the Jerusalem Post on June 22." The attack slammed both the current Netanyahu government as well as the Lapid-Bennett governments that were in power in 2021 and 2022, saying that the Israeli rationale for not punishing Russia has kept changing: "Initially, arguments were centered around Israel's special relations with Russia in Syria and the fragile situation of the Jewish population in the Russian Federation. However, in the latest interview [in the Jerusalem Post], entirely fictional and speculative assumptions were introduced, suggesting the transfer of Western weaponry from the Ukrainian battlefield to the Syrian and Iranian regimes."
Slamming all three prime ministers, it said that the shifting rationales have always aimed at justifying Israel's complete inaction in providing Ukraine with defensive assistance over the past 1.5 years." It went on to attack the recent deal struck between Israel and Russia over a plot in Jerusalem for a yet-to-be-built branch office of the Russian Embassy, as well as other political talks, presumably also referring to a recent visit by Foreign Ministry officials to Moscow.
"The Israeli government has successfully conducted two rounds of high-level political negotiations with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Additionally, an agreement has been reached regarding the establishment of another Russian diplomatic mission in Jerusalem, for which land for free has even been allocated and was presented by the Ministry of foreign affairs as a 'Big achievement'," the Ukrainian mission lamented.
From the announcement, it appears that the embassy has been particularly incensed by Israeli officials partaking in a recent celebration hosted by the Russian Embassy in Israel, held earlier in June, as well as the rather low-key response to Russian senior officials' comments on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Jewish background (the Russian president recently said that he was "not a real Jew" and prior to that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared him to Hitler).
"It is worth noting the blatant disregard for moral boundaries demonstrated by numerous senior Israeli officials who attended a diplomatic reception hosted by the Russian Embassy in Jerusalem just a week ago. Furthermore, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been dead silent regarding the regular antisemitic statements made by Putin and his minions," the embassy said. " While democratic countries impose sanctions on Russia as a terrorist country, that commits war crimes on a daily basis, Israel imposed no sanctions at all, moreover it has increased bilateral trade with the bloody Moscow regime during the last two years," the statement continued.
The statement further said that Israel was essentially ignoring the plight of Ukrainian Jews for the sake of safeguarding relations with Russia. "While the people of Ukraine, including its substantial Jewish community, are bleeding under the onslaught of Russian missiles and Iranian drones, the Israeli leadership, hiding behind verbal demagoguery about their neutrality (albeit no longer concealing it) actively forges relations with the Russian Federation. In reality, on the ground, the so-called 'neutrality' of the Israeli government is considered as a clear pro-Russian position."
The statement ends by decrying how "regrettably, the Israeli government pays little attention to the opinions of its own people and disregards the pleas of the global Jewish Diaspora, who unequivocally support Ukraine in its struggle against Russian state terrorism."
The embassy further called on Israel to act on its pledge to hand over early warning systems and go even beyond that, echoing the recent criticism by Kyiv that Israel has not lived up to its promises to bolster Ukraine's defense capabilities. "We urge Israel to change its position and to support Ukraine with defensive means, to support freedom and democratic world order. We expect Israel to be on the right side of history!," the statement said.
Cohen later said that Ukraine's Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk will be summoned to the Foreign Ministry for a reprimand over his "harsh" rhetoric.
"The complexities with Russia notwithstanding, Israel has stood by Ukraine from the beginning of the war and up to this very day, publicly supported Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, and even voted in international forums to condemn Russia," Cohen said.
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