Two events are taking place in Europe that are of historic and hysterical magnitude. One is noisy, colorful, heartbreaking; the other is quiet, polite, and presentable. The first is the Russian incursion of Ukraine and the terrible war; the second is the negotiations taking place in Vienna over the Iran nuclear deal.
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Every single Israeli media outlet sent correspondents to Ukraine and the war zones. We receive updates from there every hour, in every paper, and every news segment. Reporters and photographers try to get to the front line of the war, cities that are most under attack, to provide the latest most authentic news, the voices, and the echoes of explosions.
And in Vienna? The Austrian capital is silent. Apart from Channel 14, not a single Israeli news outlet has sent correspondents there. They were sent to Ukraine, Moldova, Poland. Even President Isaac Herzog was accompanied by 37 journalists on his visit to Turkey. But to cover the crucial nuclear talks in Vienna? None. Barren land.
Vienna is a four-hour flight away from the Polish-Ukrainian border. A four-hour flight between a terrible war that has no direct connection to Israel, and negotiations that will determine our fate.
Representatives of Iran, Russia, European countries, and the United States sit in a luxury hotel, negotiating the future of the world, the result of which will first and foremost affect Israel. The sterile term "nuclear talks" includes negotiations over an agreement that is bad for Israel, worse than its predecessor, and includes removing economic sanctions previously imposed on the Islamic republic.
Hundreds of billions of dollars in American banks will be released and transferred to Iran, directly to the Revolutionary Guards and the Quds Force. This money will be transferred to terrorism funding directly, and Iran is already the world's greatest terrorism financier. It is building missile bases in Syria, taking over Lebanon, operating proxies across the Middle East, and sowing chaos across the world.
The press tent outside the Grand Hotel Wien, where the nuclear negotiations are being held, is filled with journalists from Iran, Russia, and Europe. And from Israel? Lital Shemesh all by her lonesome. No correspondents, no news coverage. No one is asking the difficult questions, no one is interviewing, there is no pressure on the Israeli government, no pressure on our American friends, nothing.
Whoever wants to know what happened inside there, must mercilessly check independent Telegram channels that follow the reports from Iran, Russia, and European countries and translate them into Hebrew. Main news outlets mention the talks briefly, if at all.
Iran is not a theoretical danger, but a very tangible one. Tehran also does not hide its intentions and actions, and openly declares its wish to destroy Israel, while at the same time, intensively building a military force.
With patience and sophistication, it manages to twist the West's lax hand, and even Israel – the country most threatened by all of this – remains apathetic.
"Iran has gotten much more than it could have hoped for," Russia's envoy to Vienna talks Mikhail Ulyanov said. What can we expect from the world when not even we care?
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