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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that he had spoken to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and discussed the prospects of ending the conflict with Russia.
Earlier on Saturday, Zelensky said that he had suggested to Israel’s premier that Jerusalem host ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia.“I said to [Bennett] that at present it’s not constructive to hold meetings in Russia, Ukraine, or Belarus,” adding: “These are not the places where we [the leaders of the involved countries] can agree to stop the war… Do I consider Israel, Jerusalem in particular, to be such a place? I think the answer is yes.”
Zelensky’s comments came shortly before an hourlong phone call with Bennett “about ways to stop the fighting in Ukraine and Israel’s efforts in that regard,” the Prime Minister’s Office stated.
The Ukrainian president spoke after a week in which Israel’s premier was one of a number of world leaders who had attempted to use diplomacy to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began 17 days ago.
Zelensky’s statement comes on the heels of harsh criticism of Bennett’s mediation efforts that were reportedly leveled by a senior Ukrainian official, who spoke to local media on condition of anonymity.
Both Jerusalem and Kiev rebuked the report, which claimed that Israel’s leader had tried to convince Zelensky to accept Moscow-proposed terms. “At no point did PM Bennett advise President Zelensky to take a deal from Putin — because no such deal was offered to Israel for us to be able to do so,” an Israeli official speaking anonymously said on Saturday, adding: “Prime Minister Bennett is focused on one thing: stopping the bloodshed and suffering in Ukraine.”
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600 Ukrainian citizens are expected to arrive in Israel on Sunday, local media reported. The Aliyah and Integration Ministry announced the latest development in Israel’s ongoing humanitarian efforts, noting that this is the highest daily number since the start of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Not only are roughly half a million Israelis of Ukrainian descent, but about 26,000 Ukrainian nationals live in Israel and an estimated 300,000 Jews reside in Ukraine.
Israel has absorbed the most Ukrainians per capita since the Russian military campaign than any other Western country without a land border with Ukraine, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has said.
In early March, the Jewish state sent 100 tons of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The package includes 17 tons of medical equipment and medicine, water purification systems intended to supply 200,000 people, emergency water supply kits to supply 100,000 people, winter tents to house 3,000, 15,000 blankets, 3,000 sleeping bags, and 2,700 winter coats.
Some 15,000 Ukrainians could arrive in Israel by the end of the month. To date, 7,179 Ukrainian citizens have landed in the Jewish state since the start of the war.
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Negotiations to restore the Iranian nuclear deal went on “a pause,” Josep Borrell Fontelles, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said on Friday, blaming “external factors.” The EU’s top diplomat was likely referring to Russia’s recent demands of relief from sanctions targeting Moscow over its actions in Ukraine. Last week, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for guarantees that sanctions imposed on Moscow would not hinder its relationship with Tehran.
Borrell made the comments as reports emerged of a roadmap having nearly been developed for how the United States could rejoin the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — more commonly known as the Iran Deal — that Washington unilaterally withdrew from in 2018. Western powers and the Islamic Republic have been involved in talks in Vienna, meant to revive the pact to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said the pause “could [provide] momentum for resolving any remaining issues and a final return” to the JCPOA nuclear accord.
This development comes as some 12 missiles were fired from Iranian territory and fell near the US consulate in Erbil in northwestern Iraq on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was done in response to the “recent crimes of the fake Zionist regime.” The statement seemed to be referring to a recent alleged Israeli airstrike that targeted sites near Damascus, killing two IRGC officers.
The IRGC warned that any further “evil” by Israel would face a “harsh, decisive and destructive response.”
geolocation of a video showing missiles launched from Khasabad https://t.co/vChFIzfNcX https://t.co/gShLvpArI0 pic.twitter.com/iDWucRCdeM
— Samir (@obretix) March 12, 2022
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has reiterated that the Jewish state will not be beholden to the West’s nuclear deal with Iran, if one is reached in the near future: “The sun will not set on Israel’s security and the safety of its citizens…I said it before and I will say it again: the nuclear agreement with Iran doesn’t bound Israel.”
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The US House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the January terrorist attack at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. It also expresses support for the Jewish community affected by the attack; commends the actions of law enforcement and emergency responders; and reaffirms a commitment to combat hate, bigotry, antisemitism and violence against Jewish Americans.
The legislation was first introduced in the House on January 20, five days after an armed assailant entered Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville on the Sabbath, and held the synagogue’s leader and several congregants hostage for nearly 11 hours.
“I was proud to bring a bipartisan resolution to the floor today to show our country and the world that the House stands united in its condemnation of antisemitism, and the dangerous increase of violence against Jewish people and Jewish communities here and abroad,” said House majority leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) in a statement released after the resolution was passed.
He noted that the January 15 hostage situation in Colleyville “was just the latest example of that rise in antisemitism,” and referenced other incidents of violence targeting Jews — such as the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue mass shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018; the deadly shooting at Chabad of Poway in 2019; and other instances of violent acts against members of the Jewish community.
Recommended Reading
- Bipartisan House Group ‘Highly Concerned’ About Potential Iran Deal, Calls on Biden for Answers (Ronn Blitzer, Fox News)
- As Israel-Turkey Relations Shift, Attention Turns to Russia and Ukraine (Nimrod Goren, Jerusalem Post)
- Antisemitism: How the Internet Has Revived Old Anti-Jewish Tropes (Julian Hargreaves, The Conversation)
- Amnesty International Official Is ‘Opposed’ to Israel as a Jewish State (Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
- Ukraine War: Israeli Femtech to Help Save the Lives of Moms and Babies (Maayan Hoffman, Jewish News Syndicate)
