Israel’s spat with Russians ‘may spill into Syria’

A new diplomatic spat between Russia and Israel threatens to spill over into Syria and hamper efforts to rein in Iran, analysts told Arab News on Tuesday.

Israel has demanded an official apology after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood,” a comment described by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid as “unforgivable and disgraceful.”

Russia is unrepentant. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Lapid’s reaction “largely explains the current Israeli government’s approach in support of the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv.”

Israeli political analyst Yoni BenMenahem told Arabs News that Israel was trying to put pressure on Russia to strengthen the position of US President Joe Biden against Iran. However, in doing so they also risked having to curb their operations against Iranian elements in Syria, to which Russia currently turns a blind eye.

“Israel does not want a rupture with Russia to impede the actions of the Israeli air force against Iranian targets in Syria,” Ben-Menahem said.

Relations between Russia and Israel are largely based on shared interests in Syria. Moscow supports President Bashar Assad and wants to stabilize his regime and help to restore the country because this gives it the legitimacy to maintain Russian military bases there.

However, Israeli experts said that if the relationship between Russia and Israel deteriorated, the Israelis could bomb Assad regime targets, which could weaken Assad and leave Moscow in the embarrassing position of being unable to protect an ally.

Ksenia Svetlova, a former member of the Knesset and a research fellow at the Institute for Policy and Strategy at Reichman University, told Arab News: “Russia should mind its own business. It has enough on its plate, and there is no need to open another front with Israel.”