Israel’s supreme court recently rejected restrictions on the number of Ukrainian refugees allowed into the country, ruling against a quota set at 25,000 by Israel’s interior minister. (That number doesn’t include Ukrainian Jews granted citizenship under Israel’s law of return.) Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky lauded the decision as emblematic of the respect for human rights shown by “a true, developed democracy.”
Israel’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been seen by some as lackluster and insufficient. The Ukrainians themselves have voiced complaints. For example, last month the Ukrainian embassy in Jerusalem harshly criticized Israel for what it said was delayed support and medical treatment of Ukrainian soldiers who lost limbs in the war, given Israel’s expertise in the field of prosthetics. Although Israeli hesitancy to lend the same level of political and economic support to Ukraine as offered by other democratic nations may be perplexing, a deeper look into Israeli relations with Russia and its proxy in the Middle East, Syria, may help to explain Israel’s position on Ukraine.
During the Syrian civil war, Russia has exerted significant military influence in the region. Russian military intervention and air support played a key role in preventing the fall of the Assad regime and severely damaged his opposition. Putin is using Syria as a mechanism to maintain Russia’s sphere of influence in the Middle East and pursue his own economic and political prerogatives in the region.
While Israel has launched numerous attacks in Syria, with which it shares a border, those hits have mostly targeted Iranian assets and operatives. Israel views Iran as the chief threat to its security in the region, and for the most part Russia has looked the other way when Israel has penetrated Russian-controlled Syrian airspace. Recently, as reported by the Times of Israel, Israel allegedly launched an airstrike near a Russian stronghold in Syria. Israel did not acknowledge their involvement in the operation; on the other hand, Israel tends to acknowledge and celebrate its military attacks on the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization and the Iranian Quds forces in Syria. For instance, the IDF took credit for military airstrikes near Damascus targeting Iranian Quds Forces.
As Israel continues to focus on the threat posed by the Iranian presence in Syria, it has been reluctant to risk incurring Russian wrath and therefore losing its ability to maneuver there. This has made diplomacy where Ukraine is concerned a complicated endeavor. But, as noted by the Times of Israel, Israel’s “ties with Moscow have deteriorated in recent months” as a result of the continued strikes in largely Russian-controlled Syrian airspace. In addition, “Israel has found itself at odds with Russia as it has increasingly supported Ukraine while seeking to maintain freedom of movement in Syria’s skies.”
With Israel now set to take in more Ukrainian refugees, this may signal a change in Israel’s already complicated and wary relationship with Russia.