Never has an Israeli prime minister taken on such a responsibility. By going to the Kremlin, Saturday, March 5, to talk for three hours with Vladimir Putin about the war he is waging in Ukraine, Naftali Bennett left diplomats and observers in Israel speechless. He has a historic opportunity for his country, an unassumed nuclear power, a small ally of Washington in the Middle East, to talk to the world about something other than itself.
Nothing has filtered from the bottom of this mediation, carried out in full Shabbat by this leader from the religious far right, former special forces, ex-entrepreneur and minister of defense, in office for less than a year. Did Mr. Bennett pass or clarify messages, seek to keep open a channel of discussion, to obtain a ceasefire? In the Council of Ministers on Sunday, he gave himself “little chance of success” but mentioned “a moral duty”.
This quasi-neophyte in international relations was content to describe the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a divine catastrophe, a natural disaster without causes or responsible. His caution, constant and unique on the Western scene, has recently earned him criticism from the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as in Israel.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian ambassador to his country, Yevgen Korniychuk, said he was nevertheless ” grateful “. Mr. Bennett followed “a friendly suggestion” of his country, he said, making himself an intercessor, after months of contact. Both with Mr. Zelensky, to whom he refused to deliver arms before the conflict, and with Mr. Putin, who had refused, before the war, a previous offer of mediation. “Israel is the only democratic state to have excellent relations with both parties. Minsk [capitale biélorusse où s’est ouverte en 2015 une séquence diplomatique censée mettre fin au conflit dans le Donbass, enterrée par l’invasion russe] can no longer be a place [de négociations] for us (…). We are looking for another place and Jerusalem is a possibility”wants to believe this diplomat.
“Lukewarmness”
The guarantors of the Minsk agreements, including France, today seem “burnt” in Moscow. However, Mr. Bennett tries to present his initiative as an action taken in concert with Western democracies. According to the website Wallah, he notably informed of his departure, as of Friday, the American national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. It is hard to imagine that Washington solicited his attempt. The White House seems too busy mustering the broadest support for sanctions against Moscow.
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