IIsraelis and Palestinians, despite everything that opposes them, today share a similar turmoil in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Israel has dared to defy its American ally by refusing to join Western sanctions against Moscow, in order to spare both the sensitivity of its population of Russian origin and the interests of the oligarchs who hold dual nationality. The attempt at mediation, launched on March 5 by Prime Minister Bennett, fizzled. And, two weeks later, President Zelensky was only able to speak in front of Israeli deputies connected on Zoom, because they had refused to break their parliamentary recess to hear him in a special session in the Knesset. As for the Palestinian Authority, it has no more than Hamas clearly condemned the Russian aggression, maintaining nostalgia for a world where the influence of the Kremlin could counterbalance that of the White House. This is how the Ukrainian crisis reveals deep contradictions within each of the two peoples.
Israel and refugees… non-Jews
The Russian oligarchs who, because of their Jewish origins, were able to obtain Israeli nationality can count on the protection of their second homeland, even if they do not reside there permanently. Such is the well-known case of the wealthy Roman Abramovich, who has also multiplied international guarantees, to the point of intervening alongside the Turkish authorities during the March 29 mediation between Russia and Ukraine. Less publicized is the billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, whose sumptuous yacht has just been seized in the Balearic Islands and who until 2018 financed the start-up of Benny Gantz, the current Israeli Minister of Defense. In general, these Russian-Israeli oligarchs know that their interests will be preserved in Israel, which has become a sanctuary comparable, in the Middle East, to the sole emirate of Dubai. An additional, and not insignificant, factor of rapprochement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
The conflict in Ukraine had also raised expectations of a new wave of aliyah, Jewish immigration to Israel, estimated at one hundred thousand, even two hundred thousand people from Ukraine and Russia. But the majority of Jewish refugees who fled Ukraine have so far decided to settle in Germany. After a month of conflict, Israel had attracted only 15,000 Ukrainian refugees, less than a third of whom could claim aliyah. The Bennett government finally decided to relax its policy towards non-Jewish Ukrainians, sometimes stranded for hours upon arrival, while their host family was previously supposed to post bail and ensure their departure from Israel after a month. These heated debates recalled the outbidding of Netanyahu who, in 2017, blamed all the evils on the thousands of immigrants who came illegally from Eritrea and Sudan and had only granted refugee status to ten of them, preferring to deport the others to Rwanda and Uganda.
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