Israel's improbable "change government" has been in power exactly one year this week, a landmark that is primarily a tribute to how its various leaders' contempt for former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marginally exceeds their antipathy for one another.
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On Saturday night, while Russian forces entered the Ukrainian city of Volnovakha, and blocked convoys of food and medicine intended for the nearby besieged city of Mariupol, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's President, called Naftali Bennett, the Israeli Prime Minister. The two spoke for more than an hour and discussed, Zelensky tweeted, "Russian aggression and the prospects for peace talks"—which, earlier in the day, Zelensky had suggested might take place in Jerusalem.
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Last Wednesday, with the news that Vladimir Putin had launched an invasion of its neighbor, Israel's Foreign Ministry issued a statement concerning "steps taken in eastern Ukraine" and endorsing the principle of "territorial integrity." The statement didn't even mention Russia, which rankled the Ukrainian Embassy in Tel Aviv. "We just really hope that they will do something that sounds the same as our Western allies," an Embassy spokeswoman said.
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Israel Passes a Law Stating What's Jewish About A "Jewish and Democratic State"
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Visiting Professor Bernard Avishai discusses Israel's new government and political landscape in an article on The New Yorker.
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