Eve is here. This welcomes the fallacy of the idea that Israelis and Russians are best friends, and contrasts with President Putin’s excessive fondness for the idea that Israel is a haven for Jews, which is now a glorified narrative that has passed its sell-by date.
John Helmer is Russia’s longest-serving foreign correspondent and the only Western journalist to lead his own bureau independent of any single country or commercial relationship. Helmer is also a professor of political science and an advisor to heads of government in Greece, the United States, and Asia. He is the first and only person to settle in Russia as a member of the US presidential administration (Jimmy Carter). First appearance: Dances with Bears
President Vladimir Putin once said in 2019 that Russia and Israel are “a true common family. I can say this without exaggeration. There are nearly 2 million Russian speakers living in Israel. We consider Israel a Russian-speaking country…without exaggeration. Of course, we can proudly say that unless we go back to the first months, or perhaps the first years, of the founding of Israel, there was probably never such a high level of relations between Russia and Israel…
President Putin has exaggerated the number of Russian-Israelis. But even their estimates make them dwarfed by the 3 million Americans of Russian descent or who speak Russian. In fact, the actual number of Russian diaspora living outside Russia is larger in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the United States, Brazil, and Germany, in that order, exceeding Israel. Putin has never described the United States, Germany and Brazil as “Russian-speaking countries and a true common family.”
President Putin also misrepresented the national identity and loyalty of Russian-Israeli people. At most, only one in four people, or about 400,000 people, hold a Russian passport and claim Russian citizenship. However, most of them have not renewed their passports because they have expired within the past five years. These Israelis renounced their Russian citizenship. In the 2018 Russian presidential election, only 120,000 Israeli-Russians were eligible to vote. Of those, only 12,000 actually voted.
Putin received an estimated 8,640 of the Israeli votes. Putin’s vote share in Israel lagged behind several other diaspora states, including NATO foes Finland, Canada, Italy, Germany and Greece.
In the Israeli military massacres in Gaza, Lebanon, and the Palestinian West Bank, 5,067 soldiers held Russian passports as dual citizens. More than twice that number were U.S. citizens. More than 6,000 were French. Under current Russian law, this is a crime, but it only applies if Israeli-Russians volunteer or contract to serve in the Israeli military, not if they are conscripted under Israeli law. In contrast, Israeli-Russians who make a living working for Israeli companies that manufacture weapons supplied to Ukraine for the fight against Russia are not violating Russian law.
Russian Jews who are members of Chabad organizations that support the war against Russia, the Gaza genocide, and the war against Iran do not violate Russian law by virtue of their ties to or loyalty to Chabad. Among them is Berel Lazar (top image, left, pictured with Chabad leader Menachem Schnierson), officially Russia’s chief rabbi, whose election to the post over rival candidates is said to be due to funding from the Russian oligarchy and political support from President Putin.
In other words, President Putin’s publicly stated rationale for supporting Russia’s “common family” in Israel is statistically, politically, and ideologically fabricated. Putin’s support is personal.
During the Gaza massacre, a report from the Russian Emergencies Ministry claims that 827 tons of food aid was delivered to Palestinians through Egypt. During the same period, Russia delivered approximately 1.6 million tons of food and feed grains to Israel on commercial terms, making Russia the main source of Israeli grain imports. 90% of Israel’s wheat imports.
Kiev’s government announced last month that it would begin sanctions against Israel and cut off military trade unless the Israeli government halted imports of Russian grain. Netanyahu’s government responded on April 30 by banning the Russian bulk carrier Panormitis from unloading a 28,000-ton cargo of grain in Haifa.
The Russian Foreign Ministry held a public protest in Moscow. Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “Apart from the absurd and unfounded claims of the Ukrainian side, we would like to note that Moscow deplores this step, which was clearly taken under pressure from Kiev. This contradicts the official statements of the Israeli authorities regarding the commitment to maintain Russian-Israeli economic cooperation and endangers Israel’s own food security.”
Neither the president nor the Foreign Ministry has publicly stated that Israel’s wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran endanger the food security of the populations under attack.
Instead, President Putin has publicly supported President Donald Trump’s Gaza redevelopment plan under a “peace committee.” Last October, Russia answered Iran’s question: “What can we do to end the war?” [genocide]”As for President Trump’s proposal on Gaza, this may seem surprising, but Russia as a whole is ready to support it, provided, of course, that it really leads to the final goal that we have always talked about. We need to thoroughly consider the proposal submitted. Since 1948, and since 1974, when the relevant UN Security Council resolutions were adopted, Russia has consistently supported the creation of two states: an Israeli and a Palestinian state. It is suggested that an international government be created to govern the Gaza Strip for some time. Mr. Blair is not known as a great pacifist at the moment, but I know him personally, and I even spent a night there with him and had a long chat with him in my pajamas.”
The new podcast “Red Pill Diary” with Rashid Muhammad focuses on Russia, Iran, and China’s resistance to Trump’s strategy of fighting the Empire against Israel. Click to listen or view.
