Israel's silence on Ukraine puts country at odds with US

Benjamin Netanyahu is not known for the subtlety or restraint he uses when finding the words or - as needed - crudely drawn cartoons to express his views on international issues.

But as western countries join forces to oppose Russia's annexation of Crimea and apparent efforts to destabilise eastern Ukraine, the normally blunt and astringent Israeli leader has been demure - even downright dull.

When pressed on the topic on a visit to the US last month, Mr Netanyahu told Fox News: "I hope the Ukrainian thing is resolved quickly, amicably, but I have enough on my plate, which is quite full." He then quickly changed the subject to another talking point: a ship carrying Iranian and Syrian arms Israel had seized on the Red Sea off Sudan a few days before.

Israel also did not show up for a March 27 vote by the UN General Assembly in which a large majority of countries voted to condemn Russia's annexation of Crimea.

While Israeli officials later attributed the no-show in New York to a foreign ministry strike that has since been resolved, their country's official silence on Ukraine puts Israel, a country which sees itself as both a part of the developed west and the Middle East, at apparent odds with the US, its closest ally.

Haaretz, the liberal daily newspaper, reported recently that White House and State Department officials had "built up a great deal of anger" over Israel's neutrality on the crisis.

Asked about this, a State Department spokeswoman later said the US was "surprised" that Israel had not joined the vast majority of countries that voted on the UN resolution, although she denied the paper's claim that the US was "irate, infuriated" with Israel.

All this comes at a time when Israeli-US relations are already under severe strain over the Iran disarmament talks and a possibly insoluble deadlock in peace talks with the Palestinians.

Why the silence? Palestinians were quick to offer acid commentary to the effect that Israel, which unilaterally annexed occupied East Jerusalem in 1980 and the Golan Heights in 1981, would be unlikely to criticise the same behaviour by Russia, a country with which it enjoys close relations.

Another factor may be domestic: the presence in Israel of 1m immigrants from the former Soviet Union - mostly Russia and Ukraine. They form a powerful demographic bloc, which tends to the political right, but which has a spectrum of views on the Ukraine crisis.

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Away from TV cameras and microphones, Israeli officials say they have little to gain from speaking out, with their concern being for Jews living in Ukraine and Russia. Jews have been historically vulnerable to extremists in both countries and a murky incident involving anti-Semitic pamphlets in Donetsk last week set nerves on edge in that community.

"There is justified concern in the Jewish community," says one Israeli official, who asks not to be quoted. "You would not want to do anything that could endanger them."

Some Israeli commentators have gone so far as to speculate that deeper, atavistic memories of some Ukrainians' collaboration with the Nazis in the second world war might be animating Israeli policy in Russia's favour.

"Among Israelis looking back at the Holocaust, Ukrainians have a particularly bad image," says David Landau, a former Haaretz editor and author of a recent biography of Ariel Sharon, late Israeli leader.

Two decades ago, Mr Landau notes, when the US was rallying allies to isolate Slobodan Milosevic, former Yugoslav leader, Israel took a similarly cool and contrarian stance, perhaps also motivated by memories of the war and the Serbs' suffering under the Nazis.

But the strongest motivation for Israel to stay out of the Ukraine fracas lies in the present day and closer to home: Russia is a strong and growing power in the Middle East.

Israel needs to engage Moscow on several vital issues: Iran's nuclear programme and the dismantlement of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. Moscow is the biggest foreign patron of Bashar al-Assad's Syria and a major supplier of arms to the Middle East in general.

Behind closed doors, Israel has prevailed on Russia to refrain from supplying game-changing weapons to Syria that could land in the hands of Hizbollah, its best-armed regional enemy.

Mr Netanyahu calculates that he will not gain any votes in Israel, or good points in Moscow, by rallying against Vladimir Putin.

Realpolitik is rarely pretty, but Israel calculates its relationship with the US will survive whatever happens in Ukraine, but it cannot jeopardise ties with Russia. Says the official: "Whether we get all the chemical weapons out of Syria or not, which is a major thing for this region, that's an issue that can't be ignored."

The writer, the FT's Jerusalem correspondent, is on assignment in Ukraine

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