by Joel Gehrke, Foreign Affairs Reporter
November 07, 2023
Israel intends to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a visit to show solidarity in response to the Hamas terrorist attack last month despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s careful management of ties with Russia.
“If President Zelensky comes, he will be welcomed with open arms,” an unnamed Israeli official told the Times of Israel.
Zelensky had planned to arrive in Israel on Monday, according to reports, which would have positioned him to mark the passage of a month since the unprecedented rampage that ignited a major war in Gaza. The visit was canceled after his plans leaked, but points in any case to the worsening relationship between Israel and Russia.
“It’s kind of an extension of this rhetorical signaling … to the Russians that [they should] measure your support to the Palestinians or those who are supporting Palestinians,” former Estonian diplomat Peeter Raudsik, who specialized in Middle East issues at the Estonian mission to the United Nations from 2019 to 2022, told the Washington Examiner.
That trip would have united two leaders trying to shore up international support for their respective causes at a time of growing international unease about Ukraine’s prospects and Israel’s tactics in separate devastating wars.
“[Zelensky] wanted the trip to be public when he stepped on Israeli soil,” a Ukrainian official told Israeli media. “He’s very disappointed.”
Netanyahu’s team reportedly rebuffedZelensky’s initial attempt to visit in the first days after the Hamas attack in an apparent continuation of their long-standing effort to maintain a cordial relationship with Russia, which has a military presence in neighboring Syria. Yet Russia has hosted delegations from Hamas and Iran in Moscow in the weeks since the terrorist attack, with senior Russian officials criticizing Israel’s conduct in the war. The dispute escalated in recent days when Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia, the top Russian envoy at the U.N., said Israel “does not have” a right to self-defense against the Palestinians, which outraged his Israeli counterpart.
“Russia is using the Hamas attack in the most perverted way possible and only to distract the world’s attention from the invasion of Ukraine,” Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan said last week.
Nebenzia’s colleagues protested that rebuttal. “As regards statements being made by Israeli officials on Russia, this is unacceptable, and the Israeli ambassador to Moscow has been notified of that,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday, per Russian state media.
Why are US Republicans pushing for aid to Israel but not Ukraine? :-
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/8/why-are-us-republicans-pushing-for-aid-to-israel-but-not-ukraine
“Israel is facing [an] existential threat. Any funding for Ukraine should be redirected to Israel immediately,” Republican Senator Josh Hawley posted on social media two days after the war began.”
Translation: “my bloc wants the defeat of Hamas, but we want Hamas sponsor Russia to defeat Ukraine.”
A piece of crud named JD Vance signalled this despicable position last year when he said :
“I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,”
He said this to fellow putinoid scum bastard Steve Bannon.
It must be taken into account that there is a real possibility that this ass wipe and others like him are being bribed by mafia land or have kompromat dangling over their heads for their great desire to throw Ukraine under the bus.
It seems the republicans who are against Ukraine are those that support, or are supported, by the chief idiot Donald Trump. I wouldn’t paint all republicans as against Ukraine. I have seen Johnson in several interviews and in every interview he says…”we can not and will not abandon Ukraine and allow Putin to win. It would be a disaster for US national security “. Now this can be political bullshit, but given that Johnson could easily go the Trump route but he’s not, gives me some hope. I understand that some congressional republicans calling for accountability but often wonder if this is just a way to attack Biden. Im still hoping that rational Republican leaders will win the day.
No, of course, not all Republicans are bad. This is a given. I’m very pleased that Johnson keeps saying that. I hope they are not just empty words.
Israel’s dance with the ruskie devil was a grave mistake. Being friends with the crap hole while you want to be a free and democratic country never goes well.
As had been recently pointed out in a column, at Kyivpost or somewhere, Zelensky showing support for the rightwing radical Netanyahu would come at the cost of risking the support of other countries, most notably Turkey. Bibi had so far done nothing to help Ukraine, at least not publicly. Turkey, on the other hand, is a long term arms partner and in a strategically very important position, controlling the Bosporus. I don’t the president should risk alienating Erdogan now, no matter how desperate the struggling Netanyahu tries to make amends. Israel doesn’t have any spare ammunition to supply anyway, it’s all being dropped on Gaza.