Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama probably don’t agree on much, but when it comes to stopping the Israelis building in their own capital city, Jerusalem, the two world leaders see precisely eye-to-eye on the matter.
In an amazing moment of candor mixed with the ultimate in hypocrisy, Putin said in a speech on Sunday at the Valdai Club that Israeli building in Jerusalem made for increased tension in the Middle East and further afield, suggesting that the sovereign State of Israel should be limited from building up their capital city.
Of course, he didn’t make reference to the damage that his recent invasion of Ukraine has had on the world, nor the fact that ISIS are clearly the biggest threat to face the world in recent times, as they overtake huge swathes of land in Syria and Iraq, while leaving a path of destruction and suffering in their wake.
But, of course, for Vladimir Putin, the very thought of Jews building up their own homeland is unacceptable and, more than that, is what is fueling the current world tensions, according to him.
At the gathering, Putin said, “The humiliation of the Palestinian people and any other people is a source of danger and instability and must be removed with all means and ways acceptable to all parties,” failing to make reference to the “humiliated Ukrainians” who have suffered since his army invaded their territory .
The fact that Israel remained neutral on the Russian invasion of Ukraine issue didn’t go unnoticed in Washington, as State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said at the time, “We were surprised Israel did not join the vast majority of countries that vowed to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity in the United Nations.”
Despite the fact that Vladimir Putin agrees with Barack Obama on the Israeli construction in Jerusalem, Russia, and Israel have become a lot closer over the years, since Putin took office.
Firstly, it is interesting to note that one in six Israeli citizens were actually born in Russia (former U.S.S.R), and Russian is spoken openly in the streets by some communities. Even Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman was born in Russia.
But, deep down it seems that Russia is no real friend of Israel, as they consistently favor the Palestinians at the U.N. and also support Iran’s dangerous nuclear program, which poses the biggest threat of all to the Jewish State as well as to the rest of the world.
It’s ironic that one of the only foreign policy issues that Russia and America see eye-to-eye on is Israeli building in Jerusalem, despite the huge amount of unrest around the Middle East, which threatens to upset stability in the world way more than a few Jewish-owned apartments in Jerusalem.