The US Should Respect Israel’s National Security Calculations Vis-à-Vis Russia & Ukraine

The US and its Ukrainian proxies should respect Israel’s national security calculations vis-à-vis Russia and Kiev otherwise they risk further complicating their ties with the self-professed Jewish State under the latest Netanyahu Administration. Continuing to pressure Tel Aviv by implying that they know its national security interests better than its own world-renowned intelligence agencies do is beyond arrogant and indicative of their desire to be the “senior partner” in their relations despite claiming to be equals.

The US never tires of trumpeting the claim that Israel is among its closest allies anywhere in the world, yet its recent policy towards the self-professed Jewish State suggests that Washington considers itself to be the “senior partner” in its ties with Tel Aviv. Instead of respecting Israel’s national security calculations vis-à-vis Russia and Ukraine regarding its refusal to dispatch military aid to Kiev, US officials and their Ukrainian counterparts continue pressuring it to reconsider.

These unfriendly efforts prompted former Israeli National Security Advisor and prior acting head of the National Security Council Jacob Nagel to recently pen a piece for The National Interest articulating his country’s position towards this sensitive issue. Nevertheless, former Ukrainian Ambassador to Austria Alexander Scherba still tweeted a provocative message around a week later implying that Israel is immorally selling out Jewish interests by refusing to reverse its stance.

Furthermore, Axios reported that Ukraine declined Israel’s request to vote against a recent pro-Palestinian resolution at the UN or at least abstain from it due to Tel Aviv’s refusal to provide Kiev with the military aid that it’s demanded all year. Instead, Kiev decided to not even attend the vote at all, apparently to give Tel Aviv a chance to reconsider without worsening relations with its new administration. Nevertheless, Ukraine’s quid pro quo suggests that it’s still very angry with Israel.  

Considering that Kiev functions as the US’ proxy for waging war on Russia, it can thus be surmised that Scherba tweeted on the indirect behalf of his country’s patron and that his government’s decision to not attend the latest UN vote was also part of their joint pressure campaign against Israel. US Senator Lindsey Graham just jumped into the mix too after tweeting how “unnerving” it was that new Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that he “will talk less” about the Ukrainian Conflict than his predecessors did.

That American political official also expressed how disappointed he was that Cohen held a call with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov despite this being par for the course in international diplomacy. He and his ilk likely aren’t too happy either with that Israeli diplomat’s related statement that his country’s new administration will “formulate a responsible policy” towards that proxy war despite Cohen reportedly passing along a message from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Lavrov during their call.

It was earlier foreseen that “Netanyahu’s Return To Power Will Further Complicate Israeli-US Relations”, and that’s precisely what’s unfolding nowadays as he presses ahead with maximizing his country’s strategic autonomy in the global systemic transition to multiplexity. His vision is one where Israel masterfully balances between the US-led West’s Golden Billion of which his state is a part and the jointly BRICS- & SCO-led Global South that counts Russia as one of its leaders exactly as India has already done.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, popularly known as Bibi, isn’t behaving as a so-called “maverick” in this respect but is actually advancing the grand strategic agenda advised by his Intelligence Ministry in its first-ever national intelligence estimate from late last month. The Jerusalem Post reported that this document suggested recalibrating Israel’s balancing act between these de facto New Cold War blocs, which is what Bibi’s stance towards the Ukrainian Conflict aims to optimize.

This explains why Cohen declared that he’s “formulating a responsible policy” towards that proxy war together with reportedly passing along a message from Blinken to Lavrov during his call with the latter. Israel’s objective national interests rest in perfecting the balancing act that was previously described and which India has already pioneered, not in unilaterally conceding on these selfsame interests out of blind solidarity with the US like American policymakers and perception managers are pressuring it to do.

The astronomical rise of the anti-Russian lobby as the US’ preeminent influence network over the past year has resulted in the Israel one losing much of its sway over Capitol Hill. The first-mentioned was able to squeeze a shocking $100 billion from taxpayers in the last ten months alone while the second simply maintained its yearly average of around $3 billion, which adds credence to the conclusion that the anti-Russian lobby is nowadays much more powerful than the Israel one ever was.

This unexpected development contributed to Israel’s grand strategic recalculations throughout the course of the past year after Tel Aviv realized that Washington is prioritizing Kiev’s interests over its own, and in a way that obnoxiously rubs it in the self-declared Jewish State’s face at that. With Bibi’s return to the premiership for the third time, it should have been expected that this figure with a reputation for fiercely pro-sovereign policies would continue putting Israel’s interests above all others’.

To that end, there was never any credible chance that he’d reverse his predecessors’ admittedly pragmatic stance of refusing to dispatch military aid to Kiev in spite of their liberal-globalist ideological alignment with the Biden Administration. Bibi is a proud conservative-sovereigntist who’s ideologically misaligned with the Biden Administration so it therefore follows that he’d actually double down on the course paved by his predecessors, which was itself informed by its powerful intelligence agencies.

About their role in Israel’s policy formulation, Cohen himself recently served as Minister of Intelligence, while Nagel’s national security credentials were already described. The first is now Foreign Minister while the second articulated the reasons why Israel refuses to dispatch military aid to Kiev, including during the previous two administrations that followed Bibi’s second premiership in spite of their ideological alignment with the Biden Administration.

The US and its Ukrainian proxies should respect Israel’s national security calculations vis-à-vis Russia and Kiev otherwise they risk further complicating their ties with the self-professed Jewish State under the latest Netanyahu Administration. Continuing to pressure Tel Aviv by implying that they know its national security interests better than its own world-renowned intelligence agencies do is beyond arrogant and indicative of their desire to be the “senior partner” in their relations despite claiming to be equals.

Bibi isn’t going to tolerate Israel being treated as a “junior partner” by anyone, neither the US and definitely not much weaker Ukraine, and is therefore expected to react extremely negatively to their condescending attitudes towards his country if they don’t soon change. The US and Ukraine are therefore advised to finally treat Israel with respect if they endeavor to retain the presently positive state of their relations with it instead of risking their self-inflicted deterioration as might soon happen.