Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke Jan. 13 on the cellphone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A brief assertion issued by the Prime Minister’s Workplace stated the leaders mentioned safety points and agreed on “continued close cooperation on this space.” The phrases ‘shut cooperation within the space’ doubtless confer with alleged Israeli air pressure exercise in Syria, the place Russia maintains a navy presence. Over the previous few years, Israel and Syria have established communication channels to coordinate on safety points associated to Syrian air house.
Naturally, the assertion additionally addressed the Iranian issue. It stated, “In opposition to the backdrop of the nuclear talks in Vienna, the prime minister careworn the significance of a powerful and decided stance in opposition to Iran’s progress within the nuclear mission.”
Since taking workplace, Bennett has spoken on the cellphone with Putin a number of instances and has met him in individual as soon as in Sochi on Oct. 22, 2021. The Oct. 22 assembly with Putin was scheduled to take about two hours however finally lasted virtually 5, with a part of it a non-public dialogue between the leaders (the 2 males walked collectively within the backyard of the presidential complicated towards the seaside). At that assembly, Putin invited Bennett and his spouse to go to Saint Petersburg, an invite he repeated within the Jan. 13 cellphone name. It needs to be famous that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu additionally invested numerous effort at establishing a pleasant rapport with Putin.
Jerusalem and Moscow are undoubtedly not on the identical web page over the Vienna talks. Nonetheless, leaders of each international locations are evidently making efforts at establishing pleasant private rapport. Whereas Jerusalem doesn’t count on Moscow to instantly change its stance on Iran and help sanctions in opposition to Tehran, it estimates that conserving an open channel of communication on the difficulty may show essential as soon as the events to the Vienna talks come nearer to a deal.
In that respect, the difficulty of Syria is extra tangible. Dialogue with Russia has a direct influence on the bottom. Stories in Israeli press late December stated the IDF plans to continue in 2022 its efforts to curb Iranian entrenchment in Syria and curb Iranian capacity to switch weapons and gear by Syria to its proxies in Lebanon, particularly Hezbollah. This might imply extra aerial assaults in opposition to strategic navy targets on Syrian soil. Such navy exercise would require continued cooperation with Russian forces within the space in order to not by accident skirmish with Russian jets.
Bennett’s efforts of creating a private dialogue with Putin are particularly notable in contrast together with his less-than-often contacts with different world leaders. Out of the P5+1 international locations taking part within the Vienna talks with Iran, Bennett has been largely in touch with President Joe Biden and Putin, although contacts with the US president are much less easy than may have been anticipated. On Dec. 21 it was reported that Biden did not call Bennett for over three weeks regardless of a request from Jerusalem for such a dialog.
As for the Europeans, Bennett met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron in the course of the COP21 climate summit in Glasgow initially of November. On Jan. 4, Bennett spoke with Johnson over the cellphone about a number of points, together with the Vienna talks. The 2 international locations are planning a joint innovation summit within the UK later this yr.
Relations with France appear to be extra sophisticated on the leaders’ degree. International Minister Yair Lapid has a private and pleasant relationship with Macron, which may clarify why Bennett is making little effort at speaking with Paris. He would possibly choose leaving Macron for Lapid. The 2 males (Macron and Lapid) final spoke on the cellphone Jan. 8 in regards to the ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna. Nonetheless, it’s curious why Bennett didn’t name Macron to congratulate him over France taking up the presidency of the European Union.
