Putin’s Misleading Factoids on Russia-Israel Ties

Yves here. This is a welcome debunking of the ideas that Israelis and Russians are besties, as opposed to Putin being unduly fond of the idea of Israel being a haven for Jews, which is now a romanticized tale past its sell-by date.

By John Helmer, the longest continuously serving foreign correspondent in Russia, and the only western journalist to direct his own bureau independent of single national or commercial ties. Helmer has also been a professor of political science, and an advisor to government heads in Greece, the United States, and Asia. He is the first and only member of a US presidential administration (Jimmy Carter) to establish himself in Russia. Originally published at Dances with Bears

Once upon a time, in 2019, President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia and Israel make “a true common family; I can say this without exaggeration. Almost 2 million Russian speakers live in Israel. We consider Israel a Russian-speaking country…Without any exaggeration, I can say with pride that probably there has never been such a high level of relations between Russia and Israel, if, of course, we don’t go back to the very first months or maybe the first couple of years of the state of Israel. The positions of Russia and Israel, the peoples of our countries coincide….”

Putin was exaggerating the number of Israelis of Russian origin. But even at his estimate they are dwarfed by the 3 million Americans of Russian origin or Russian language. In fact, the measured numbers of the Russian diaspora living outside Russia are greater, in order of magnitude,   in the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the US, Brazil,  and Germany, all ahead of Israel.  Putin has never described the US, Germany,  or Brazil as “a Russian-speaking country, a true common family”.

Putin was also misrepresenting the national identification and loyalties of Israelis of Russian origin. At most, only one in four, about 400,000, has held a Russian passport and has claimed Russian citizenship. However, most of that  number have not renewed their passports as they expired in the past five years; these Israelis have abandoned Russian citizenship. In the Russian presidential election of 2018, only 120,000 Israeli Russians were eligible to vote. Of that number, only 12,000 actually cast votes.

Putin won an estimated 8,640 of those Israeli votes. Putin’s share of the votes in Israel trailed several other diaspora states including Finland, Canada, Italy, Germany,  and Greece – all NATO adversaries.

In the Israeli army genocide in Gaza, Lebanon,  and the West Bank of Palestine, 5,067 soldiers were holding Russian passports as dual nationals; more than double that number were US citizens; more than 6,000 were French.   Under current Russian law, this would be criminal — but only if the Israeli Russians volunteered or contracted to serve in the Israeli forces, not if they were conscripted under Israeli law. By contrast, Israeli Russians making their living in Israeli companies producing weapons supplied to the Ukraine for combat against Russia are not breaking Russian law.

Russian Jews who are members of the Chabad organization which is supporting the war against Russia, the Gaza genocide, and the war against Iran are also not breaking Russian law by their Chabad links and loyalties. They include Berel Lazar (lead image, left, with picture of Chabad leader, Menachem Schneerson), officially Chief Rabbi of Russia whose election to that post against rival candidates has been credited to Russian oligarch money and Putin’s political backing.

In short, Putin’s publicly expressed rationale for supporting the Russian “common family” in Israel is a fabrication – statistically, politically, ideologically. Putin’s support is personal.

During the Gaza genocide, reports from the Russian Emergencies Ministry have claimed to have delivered 827 tonnes of food aid to the Palestinians through Egypt.  In the same period, Russia delivered on commercial terms about 1.6 million tonnes of food and fodder grain to Israel, making Russia the leading source of Israeli grain imports;    90% of Israel’s wheat imports.

Last month, the Kiev regime announced that it would begin sanctions against Israel, cutting off the military trade, unless the Israeli government stopped imports of Russian grain.  The Netanyahu government responded on April 30 by barring the Russian bulker, Panormitis, from unloading its 28,000-tonne grain cargo at Haifa.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has made a public protest in Moscow. “Barring absurd and baseless claims of the Ukrainian side,” spokesman Maria Zakharova said, “we would like to note that Moscow regretted this step that was obviously taken under pressure from Kiev. This runs counter to Israeli authorities’ official statements about their commitment to maintain Russian-Israeli economic cooperation and jeopardises the food security of Israel itself.”

Neither the President nor the Foreign Ministry has publicly said that Israel’s wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran jeopardize the food security of the populations under attack.

Instead, Putin has publicly supported President Donald Trump’s Gaza redevelopment scheme under the “Board of Peace”. Last October, responding to an Iranian question about what Russia “can do to bring an end to the [genocide]”, Putin replied: “regarding President Trump’s proposal on Gaza – you may find this surprising, but Russia is overall ready to support it. Provided, of course, that it truly leads to the ultimate goal we have always spoken about. We must thoroughly examine the proposals made. Since 1948 – and later in 1974, when the relevant UN Security Council resolution was adopted – Russia has consistently supported the creation of two states: Israel and a Palestinian state. I believe this is the only key to a final, lasting solution to the Palestinian–Israeli conflict. As far as I understand – I have not looked through the proposal carefully yet – it suggests creating an international administration to govern Palestine for some time, or more precisely, the Gaza Strip. It is proposed that Mr Blair would head it. Now, he is not known as a great peacemaker. But I know him personally. I have even visited him at his home, spent the night there, and in the morning, over coffee in our pyjamas, we spoke at length. Yes, this is true.”

In a new Red Pill Diaries podcast with Rasheed Muhammad, the discussion focuses on Russia, Iran and China in resisting Trump empire-fighting strategy with Israel. Click to listen or view.