Zelensky Shouldn’t Feign “Shock” At Israel’s Refusal To Send Kiev Air Defense Systems

Simply put, Russia is Israel’s highly strategic partner while Ukraine will always just be an ordinary one.

Zelensky recently said in an interview that he was “shocked” that Israel refused to send air defense systems to his country, but he’s just feigning this reaction since it’s obvious to all objective observers why Tel Aviv hasn’t done this. Before explaining the Jewish State’s strategic calculations, it’s important to share the entirety of what the Ukrainian leader said about this subject in order to avoid accusations of decontextualizing his comments. Here’s what the Times of Israel quoted him telling French media:

“Israel gave us nothing. Nothing, zero. I understand they are in a difficult situation with Syria, with Russia. I understand they need to defend their land, but then I got information from my intelligence services that Israel provides [the air defenses] in other countries. They can sell, they can export, which is why I am shocked.”

The reasons for this are several. First, former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett was so disgusted by Zelensky’s comparison of Russia’s special operation to the Holocaust that he decided to publicly humiliate him by reminding everyone that “It is forbidden to compare anything to the Holocaust.” That faux pax was interpreted by the Israeli leadership as condescending, disrespectful, and an attempt to manipulate them on the basis of the Jewish people’s historical suffering, which soured relations.

Second, while it’s true that Israel and Russia do indeed coordinate in Syria, ties between those two were complicated earlier this spring after Foreign Minister Lavrov made the anti-fascist point that someone’s ethno-religious identity at birth doesn’t predetermine their political views later in life. Russia’s top diplomat was specifically referring to Zelensky’s support of fascists in Ukraine despite his Jewish heritage, which upset Israel. For those who are interested, here are my analyses about that spat:

* 2 May: “Lavrov’s Right: Someone’s Ethno-Religious Identity At Birth Doesn’t Predetermine Their Views”

* 3 May: “There Is No Middle Ground Between Lavrov’s & Hitler’s Worldviews”

* 3 May: “Israel’s Support Of Kiev Confirms The Veracity Of Lavrov’s Worldview”

* 3 May: “Russia Does Indeed Have The Moral Right To Lecture Anyone About The Holocaust”

* 6 May: “Putin Probably Didn’t Really Apologize To Bennett For Lavrov’s Anti-Fascist Remark”

* 19 May: “Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Cleared The Air On The Recent S-300 Report”

* 21 May: “Israel Just Utterly Humiliated The Alt-Media Community”

* 29 May: “Israel’s Reported Refusal To Greenlight German Anti-Tank Missiles To Ukraine Is Huge”

To summarize, Russia and Israel ultimately overcame their unexpected disagreement, which resulted in Moscow continuing to refuse to allow Damascus to use the S-300s to defend itself from Tel Aviv’s anti-Iranian and -Hezbollah strikes while Tel Aviv reciprocated that good will in a quid pro quo by continuing to refuse to send lethal weapons to Kiev. The preceding outcome is the third point of pertinence related to why Zelensky shouldn’t have feigned “shock” at Israel’s decision since it serves Tel Aviv’s interests.

As for the fourth, this concerns Israel’s refusal to even send air defense systems to Kiev, presumably because interfering with Russia’s special operation in Ukraine would be akin to Russia interfering with Israel’s surgical strikes in Syria by reneging on its unofficial commitment to prevent Damascus from utilizing the S-300s to that end. And finally, the last point is that Russian-Iranian relations have become very strategic lately, which prompted Israel to be extra considerate of Moscow’s interests nowadays.

To briefly elaborate on the aforementioned, Russia has begun to need Iran more than the inverse since the Islamic Republic provides that Eurasian Great Power with its only viable international logistics corridor to the global economy via the North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC). While falling short of taking Iran’s side over Israel’s in Syria, which Russia is reluctant to do because it believes in balancing both strategic partners, Moscow’s tilt closer to Tehran nowadays has sparked serious fears in Tel Aviv.

In order to not inadvertently provoke a security dilemma that could lead to Russia considering Israel to be a US pawn in the Golden Billion’s global campaign to “contain” this newly restored world power, which might dangerously result in it interfering with the Jewish State’s surgical strikes in Syria and even arming Iran and allied groups there with modern-day weapons as part of a proxy war, Tel Aviv wisely chose not to give Kiev anything other than humanitarian aid and superficial political support.

These five background points are self-evident to any objective observer, but the problem is that many are intoxicated with the allure of wishful thinking, both in the Alt-Media Community (AMC) and the Mainstream Media (MSM). That’s why it was equally “shocking” to both to hear Zelensky admit that Israel hasn’t give Kiev anything. Each media school has their own self-interested narrative reasons for preconditioning their audience to expect that Israel would militarily support Kiev, but it never happened.

To wrap it all up, here are the reasons why neither Zelensky nor the media should have been “shocked”:

1. Zelensky deeply offended Israel by trivializing the Holocaust, which instantly soured relations;

2. Russian-Israeli relations overcame this spring’s spat despite it being over just as sensitive of an issue;

3. This confirmed that Israel trusts Russia and its intentions, while distrusting Ukraine and its intentions;

4. Israel also has pressing national security reasons vis a vis Syria to maintain close ties with Russia;

5. And the aforesaid are all the more acute nowadays due to Russia’s tilt towards Iran in recent months.

Simply put, Russia is Israel’s highly strategic partner while Ukraine will always just be an ordinary one.