The President of Ukraine's speech showed that Israel's support is more important to him than useless mediation

Zalansky did not leave a stone unturned in the criticism he leveled at Israel's policy toward the Russian invasion.

He despised Bennett's neutrality and expressed severe disappointment that Israel was not helping his country.

His remarks may produce similar criticism of Israel from the West.

Walking between the drops may turn out to be one that does more harm than good

Lightning Ravid

20/03/2022

Sunday, 20 March 2022, 19:42 Updated: 20:03

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In the video: Zlanski's speech to Knesset members (Photo: Knesset Channel and Shlomi Gabay)

Nine days ago I met with a senior official in the Ukrainian government.

The criticism he voiced about the Israeli government's policy and the "mediation" efforts of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was extremely sharp.

"Bennett is actually offering us to surrender," the Ukrainian official told me.

"Bennett wants to have a mailbox. We have enough mailboxes."

After the news broke, the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry denied the allegations.

They claimed that the same Ukrainian official spoke without authority and that his remarks did not represent President Zalanski's position.

The Bennett bureau and the Lapid bureau also pointed the finger at the Ukrainian ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Kornichuk, and reporters were instructed that he was a problematic factor that was undermining relations between the two countries.

The Prime Minister's Office even pressured the Zlansky Office to deny the allegations and extracted a tweet from one of his advisers who in a particularly convoluted wording tried to alleviate the tension a bit.

The speech of the President of Ukraine to the members of the Knesset today disrupted all these spins and attempts at rendering.

Zalanski's remarks showed not only that the same senior Ukrainian did not act on his own, but that the criticism he voiced accurately represented the mood of the leadership in Kiev.

Forer in his speech all the spins.

Zlansky addresses MKs today (Photo: Official website, Walla!)

Zalansky did not leave stone upon stone in his speech.

He criticized the Israeli government's policy on absorbing Ukrainian refugees, Israel's refusal to provide Ukraine with the "Iron Dome" system (as revealed by journalist Nadav Eyal) and Israel's unwillingness to assist Ukraine with basic equipment such as helmets and vests.

For dessert, the Ukrainian president added criticism of the Israeli dragging its feet when it comes to joining international sanctions on Russia.

But Zalansky's review center touched on Prime Minister Bennett's half-tea and half-coffee policy.

The relentless attempt to stay balanced, the fear of upsetting Putin even in the smallest things.

And for the record - unlike many houses of parliament in the world, the President of Ukraine's speech to the Knesset took place in a zoom conversation and not in the plenary hall.

There were endless excuses, but the truth is that in Jerusalem they feared that Putin would get angry and want to speak as well.

More on Walla!

Zalansky to Knesset members: "You remember the final solution, now it is aimed at Ukraine"

To the full article

Half Tea-Half Coffee Policy.

Bennett (Photo: Paul, Mark Israel Salem)

In recent weeks, the Prime Minister's' Office has enjoyed breathing the air of summits, waving at the position of the international "mediator" that Prime Minister Bennett has taken for himself and smelling flattering articles in the foreign media.

But Zalansky, for his part, despised what he saw as Israeli neutrality when it came to war.

"Why are you constantly busy with calculations? Realtors without taking sides?", He said.

The message of the President of Ukraine was that he does not need Israeli mediation if it is accompanied by an unwillingness of Israel to fully stand by Ukraine.

In his speech, Zalansky compared the Russian invasion of Ukraine to Nazi Germany's attempt to exterminate the Jewish people.

Ministers and Knesset members from the coalition and the opposition stormed his remarks as a source of much loot and shouted that the only Jewish head of state in the world other than Israel dares to touch them in the Holocaust.

Assaulted on his remarks as a nightmare.

MKs in the zoom speech, today (Photo: Official website, Walla!)

For years, senior Israeli politicians have compared Iran to Nazi Germany, between Ahmadinejad and Hitler and the Natanz centrifuges to the gas chamber in Auschwitz.

Benjamin Netanyahu did not hesitate to say such things on Holocaust Day and at Yad Vashem.

But when Putin announces that Ukraine has no right to exist, his army commits massacres of thousands of innocent civilians and when US intelligence warns of the use of chemical weapons against Kyiv, there are those in Israel who are bothered by Zalanski's comparisons.

The speech of the President of Ukraine revealed that Israel's problem is policy.

Ukraine's criticism of this policy could soon turn into similar criticism of Israel by Western powers.

Anyone who needs a hint of this can see the tweet of support from the US Embassy in the speech. As time goes on - the neutrality that the Israeli government has imposed on itself does more harm than good.

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• Ukraine

• Volodymyr Zlansky

• Naftali Bennett