Outrage in Congress over Jerusalem's lukewarm stance toward Russia; Israel is working to calm the crisis Israel today

Israel's political system has been working for the past two weeks to prevent a sharp crisis with Israel's fans in the United States, following harsh criticism from many senior US officials over Israel's attitude toward the war in Ukraine. Republican.

These include Senator Lindsay Graham, a longtime supporter of Israel and the only one who has publicly criticized Jerusalem's almost neutral stance on Russia's aggression.

In addition to him, there were many who in closed talks strongly objected to Israel's approach, its refusal to join the sanctions on Russia and what they saw as conciliation with Russian aggression.

Criticized Israel's lukewarm position: Lindsay Graham, Photo: IPA

Among the senior officials who harshly criticized Israel were Senator Ted Cruz, one of Israel's biggest supporters on Capitol Hill, Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, who on the eve of the war visited Israel at the head of a large delegation of Cognars members, and others.

The criticisms were made in closed conversations between senators and members of Congress and advisers as well as with pro-Israel elements operating on Capitol Hill.

In order to moderate the criticism, and prevent it from being published in public, a number of talks were held last week between Israeli officials and senior members of Congress and the Senate.

Israel Today learned that one of the talks lasted about an hour.

In these talks, the Israeli sources explained the considerations that led Israel to take a lukewarm position in relation to the other Western countries towards Russia.

They stressed the importance of Israel's freedom of action in Syria, the role of mediation between Russia and Ukraine, taken on by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and the fact that there is no sanctions law in Israel.

Destruction in the city of Zhytomyr, northern Ukraine, Photo: AFP

A senior adviser at Capitol Hill told Israel Today that the Israeli explanations were effective, led to a greater understanding of Israel's position and prevented criticism from slipping out.

However, he said, according to Washington officials, there are still significant gaps between the way the war is perceived in the United States and the way Israelis perceive it. These gaps contribute to the profound differences in reactions to Russia, Israel and the United States.

A pro-Israel adviser to Congress told Israel Today that in the United States the feeling is that a third world war has broken out, that the most horrible thing has happened, and that Putin is almost a Nazi.

This atmosphere pervades the entire public system in the United States, "on both sides of the political spectrum."

He said, "In such an unprecedented state of emergency, both parties expected Israel, as well as other US allies, to take an unequivocal stance towards Russia.

Those senior officials do not understand how it is possible that Israel is not unequivocally adopting Western policy, including participating in sanctions. "

Another American source said that the position of Israel is now being understood in Congress, so there is no public criticism.

"And even though they understand, do not understand. Still the gut feeling is uncomfortable in the face of Israel's approach at such a dramatic moment in history."

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