WarSclerotic

Israel Hayom | Putin — neither an ally nor an enemy.

There is nowhere in the world where the memory of World War II is more indelibly burned into the collective contemporary experience than in Israel and in Russia.

Generations of Israelis read Russian author Alexander Fadeyev’s “The Young Guard” as though it were about the Jewish underground, and sang in Hebrew: “Vanya take me to war, you will be the red commissar and I’ll be the nurse.” The strong connection between the two countries never faltered, even when Russia dove deep into the filth of anti-Semitism with Joseph Stalin’s “doctor’s plot” and even when Russia aided Arab aggression to the point of jeopardizing Israel’s existence.

The mention of the Red Army’s role in the liberation of the Jews following World War II will always be the basis of any move aimed at initiating dialogue and cooperation, or any other Russian gesture toward Israel. Israel already planted a Red Army Forest in 1950 to honor what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War, but when Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to renew dialogue with Israel, an additional memorial was built in Netanya. The memorial site was a very efficient, and traditional, starting point for Putin’s visit to Israel this week.

Above all, this visit was important because it happened. In a time when the Arab-Left-anti-Semitic axis is doing its utmost to delegitimize and marginalize Israel, Putin’s visit has the power to counter dozens of evil-hearted artists and musicians who boycott Israel. If such visits were the norm, Israel would have laid the red carpet at Ben-Gurion International Airport and welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama by now.

The prestige of Putin’s visit is intensified by the fact that Israel is only the fourth country the Russian president has visited since the start of his latest term in office. Reviled Israel finds itself on Putin’s itinerary alongside China, Germany and France — much to the chagrin of Russian communist anti-Semitic circles and Arab nations that play a central role in Russian policy.

Putin’s short visit also had practical goals, obviously. It is fair to assume that he has a vested interest in Israel’s defense industry. In another area, President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced their disappointment with Russia over its stance on Iran’s nuclear program and its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russia’s position on Iran is the polar opposite of Israel’s. But there are shades of gray — Russia wants to enrich Iran’s uranium instead of allowing the ayatollah regime to do it, which isn’t good enough for Israel, but better than the existing arrangement. This represents somewhat of an overlap that allows Israel and Russia to jointly demand permission for U.N. inspectors to enter Iran’s secret nuclear facilities. Israel is also disappointed with Putin’s support for Assad — but the Meretz party’s call to boycott the Russian president over the ongoing massacre in Syria went much too far.

It is not clear why Putin decided to push up his visit to Israel. Perhaps, being at constant odds with the U.S., he wanted Israel to send a signal to the largest concentration of Jews outside of Israel, which has influence on the White House. The Russian president is not our ally, but he is also not our enemy, and he is always a welcome guest. Not only because of The Young Guard.

This entry was posted on June 26, 2012 at 1:57 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.