Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is an unlikely mediator between Kyiv and Moscow, Tom Bateman says.
Naftali Bennett says it is a moral obligation to make every effort to extend dialogue
The Israelis headed to the Kremlin. Mr Bennett was the first foreign leader to speak to Vladimir Putin in person in response to the invasion of Ukraine. We don't know much about the meeting, whether they were sat six metres apart across that glossy white table . None of the substance leaked at the time. There was nothing to see and little to hear. An invisible liaison.
Israel's leadership believes its Russia links are an opening. One Israeli official put it to me that it can be a "bridge" between Moscow and the West. Prime Minister Bennett even called it a moral obligation to make every effort to extend dialogue. It's unlikely Israel can play mediator in the usual sense of a powerful arbiter that tries to entice each party into concessions. It would have to be more of a message carrier, shuttling between unequal sides. Some question the value of such an attempt.Some protesters in Israel have called on the government to help Ukraine resist the Russian invasion
Many in Arab countries, having lived the aftershocks of American and British invasions, condemn the West for what they see as its double standards over Ukraine. Palestinians point to Western backing for Ukrainian resistance and celebration of its leaders and ask: What about us? Israeli critics of this argument have been very vocal too, saying there is no equivalence between the two conflicts.
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