Zions's Russian Litmus Test

Russia, Israel and the Syrian Golan: A Litmus Test for Russia as Security Council Member

Vladimir Putin and Benyamin Netanyahu during a previous visit of the Israeli PM to Moscow.

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Moscow again for the third time in as many months on April 21,2016. Netanyahu reiterated last week that Israel plans to permanently annex the Syrian Golan Heights from where it, over the last years, supported Jabhat Al-Nusrah and other “rebels” in the fight against Syria. Moscow’s political posturing, and more importantly, action at the Security Council, could be crucial for how “the international community” , especially non-aligned nations will consider Russia’s role as honest broker and permanent Security Council member. Putin describes cooperation with Israel and Russia’s Middle east policy as “always responsible”.

Russia  Special Relationship with Israel

Preparations for another meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gained  momentum. after Putin  received Israeli President Reuven Rivlin who holds a more or less “ceremonial” office in Israel while actual power resides in the PrimeMinistry, after that meeting, the Kremlin’s press service announced that Russia and Israel had a large number of questions to discuss.Among them, are questions linked with the development of bilateral trade and economic relations and questions about the regions (Middle East) security. Putin was quoted as saying: “I hope that we’ll be able to discuss them in the short run with the Israeli Prime Minister with whom we have made arrangements for a meeting”.

About 1.8 million Soviet Union Jews have immigrated to  Israel. Many of them migrated to Israel after the discontinuation of the Soviet Union. Those who are cognizant of the chaos in the collapsing USSR also know that many paid to have their “nationality” in their passports changed to “Jewish” in exchange for small “presents” to officials in their respective Oblast, to get help with migrating to Israel or the USA, regardless of whether they actually were Jewish or not. This is a huge problem now in Israel where an estimated 45% of Russian Jews have a question mark next to their Jewishness. During the first phase of conscription in the IDF many of this Russian Immigrants or children of such immigrants voluntary go through a relatively quick Orthodox Judaism conversion.

Russia, like fellow permanent UN Security Council  members USA, UK and France, maintains that it has a“special relationship” with Israel. It is a “special relationship” that consistently has resulted in the non-enforcement of countless UN General Assembly and UN Security Council Resolutions pertaining Israel.

Image: The UNDOF withdrawal leaves a 12 – 16 km wide corridor uncontrolled by the UNDOF. In 2013 it transpired that Israel is providing support for Jabhat al-Nusrah, which includes a joint intelligence and military operations room in the Israeli occupied Golan, logistic support, weapons, field hospitals, and direct combat support. (Map plotting by Christof Lehmann) Click on map to view full size.

The press office of the Kremlin also quoted Putin as saying that “The Israeli government meets us halfway, returning to Russia the shrines highly valuable for us, and we are very grateful to our Israeli friends for this”. 

Not one word about Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. Not one word styled to Rivlin about the illegally Israeli occupied Syrian Golan Heights and Israel’s support of Jabhat Al-Nusrah and other “rebels” via the Golan Heights, at least not publicly.

All that Russian diplomats did in 2014 was to “warn”  withdrawal of UNDOF troops from a large sector of the disengagement zone between Syria and Israel in the Golan. Washington was silent. Both Washington and Moscow failed to take action at the UN Security Council. This is particularly important because Israeli machinations led to the establishment of a 12 – 16 km wide corridor through which Israeli military and intelligence services could freely interact and cooperate with Jabhat Al-Nusrah and other “rebels”.(see map)

Russian – Israeli Security Coordination

When Russia launched its aerial campaign against the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS / ISIL / Daesh), Jabhat Al-Nusrah and affiliated organizations in late October 2015, Moscow began coordinating with the United States, other NATO members as well as Israel, Jordan and other regional powers.

The need for this coordination became particularly apparent after two Turkish F-16 fighter jets brought down a Russian Su-24 frontline bomber. Turkey received a lot of “flack” from Moscow, including from the Presidency, the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry. Criticism of Israel’s support of terrorists via the Golan Heights and Israel’s illegal occupation, however, was limited to outlets like Russia Today – primarily for foreign consumption, using western “pundits” as proxy.

Moreover, Israel’s Minister of Transport and Intelligence, Yisrael Katz, was quoted in the Israeli news portal Newsru.co.il on Monday, as saying:

“Coordination of steps between us and Russia allows Israel to defend these interests without fear of Russian intervention, and it is extremely important not only in near, but in the long run. … Russia will retain a certain presence in the region, and, from my point of view, coordination is extremely important for Israel. Syria, Iran and Hezbollah might have expected that Russia would actively oppose the Israeli measures. This did not happen. We have our own interests in what is happening in Syria: first of all, to prevent the hotbed of terrorist activity on the Golan Heights, and also prevent the transfer of strategic weapons from Iran through Syria to Lebanon.  … We need to remember that we have interests relating to the Golan Heights, and it is good that in the case of a settlement in Syria, we have the ability to effectively communicate with Russia.”

The Litmus Test that will be closely monitored

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated after his weekly Cabinet meeting held on the Golan Heights ( the first ever since 1967) , that Israel would never relinquish the Golan Heights, in a signal to Russia and the United States that the strategic plateau should be excluded from any deal on Syria’s future. That no response came from Washington was to be expected and arguably, it could also have been forecast that there came no “official”response, let alone a political response at the Security Council from Moscow. The response was, again, primarily limited to media like Russia Today, tailored for foreign consumption.

Moscow’s position regarding the Golan during an upcoming meeting between Putin and Netanyahu will be a litmus test for Moscow. It will be a litmus test that will especially be closely monitored by members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), including Iran and Egypt. Moscow’s position will also affect how it will be perceived as observer in the Non-Aligned Movement. It is worth noting that Egypt’s Foreign Minister, in 2015, stressed that the United Nations has failed as spectacularly at protecting small, sovereign nations from the wars and proxy wars waged by the superpowers and the former colonial powers, as the League of Nations had failed at protecting them from the atrocities of the last two world wars.