Tzipi Livni: Netanyahu’s pro-Kremlin politics harm Israel
Knesset deputy and former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Naetanyahu's policies towards Russia, saying they are harmful for the Israeli state.
"Why was it necessary to cancel the visit of the Prime Minister of Ukraine to Israel and how will this help our country? Netanyahu has a close relationship with Russia and he appealed to President Putin to veto an anti-Israel resolution but he received Putin’s refusal," the press release stated, which was received by the editorial office of the Сursor news agency.
"Netanyahu travels frequently to Russia and communicates a lot with the Russian president over the phone. It is fair Russia is a country we should definitely build strong relations with. However, Russia, every time, votes against Israel in the framework of international organizations. It happened this time too. And what Netanyahu did? He canceled the scheduled visit of the Prime Minister of Ukraine to Israel. Does this mean that due to the anti-Israel vote to the UN Security Council, Netanyahu is going to spoil relations with Russia as well? With all the countries that voted against Israel? Or does he only act against those who he thinks are weak? And how is this helpful for Israel? Netanyahu for one more time showed helplessness. He is not able to control the situation neither does he understand the effectiveness and usefulness of his reactions for Israel," the press release stated.
Previously, it was reported that the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that forbids Israel to build new settlements in the Palestinian territories with 14 votes in favor. Initially, it was assumed that the draft resolution will not pass, because the United States was expected to veto it. However, the US representative didn't do so and that resulted to the representative of the Israeli cabinet, Yuval Steinitz, calling Washington's decision "a betrayal." Ukraine also voted in favor of the resolution.
Netanyahu, in turn, requested an explanation from several ambassadors.