Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
Russian-Israeli relations are complex. Israel is very unhappy about Moscow’s close ties with two of Israel’s primary opponents, Iran and Syria. Nor does Israel share Moscow’s willingness to talk with Hamas … Despite these differences, Russian-Israeli relations are remarkably friendly. Trade between them is growing. More importantly, there are strong cultural ties between the two countries that are also growing. The complexity of the Russian-Israeli relationship was evident at the conference on "Russia, the Middle East and the Challenge of Radical Islam," that took place in Jerusalem on April 9. Most of the speakers were either from Russia or from Israel. …
In the first part of the day-long conference, the Israeli speakers focused on describing how threatening Iran has become even though it does not yet have nuclear weapons, and how even more threatening it will be to many nations (including Russia) if Tehran ever obtains them. … Regarding Iran, several of the Russian speakers argued that while certain aspects of its behavior were indeed disturbing, it was necessary to engage Iran in order to change its behavior. Isolating Tehran, as they described Washington as attempting to do, would only encourage continued Iranian defiance.
Not surprisingly, the Russians and the Israelis did not find common ground on this issue. In the afternoon, though, the tone of the conversation changed dramatically when they discussed the Russian-Israeli bilateral relationship. In addition to praising their growing trade ties and calling for them to increase, both sides noted how the presence of over 1 million Russian speaking Jews in Israel has positively affected Russian-Israeli relations. … Access the full article>>
