Netanyahu Asked Zelensky to Skip U.N. Vote on Anti-Israel Resolution

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky prior to the country’s decision Friday to skip the U.N. General Assembly vote to have the International Court of Justice weigh in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu’s office said.

According to a post by Zelensky, the two “discussed bilateral cooperation between our states, including in the security sphere and interaction on international platforms.”

Walla reported that Israeli and Ukrainian officials said Netanyahu had asked Zelensky to vote against the measure.

According to the report, Zelensky wanted to know how Netanyahu intended to change Israel’s policy on providing his country with defensive aid to intercept Russian strikes using drones and missiles, but Netanyahu would not commit to any steps.

This irked Zelensky, who decided not to vote against the resolution, but to miss the vote “in order to give a chance to the relationship with Netanyahu,” the report cited a Kyiv official as saying,

Although Israel knew in advance that the resolution would pass in the Assembly, which is regularly able to muster votes for resolutions critical of Israel, Kan News said Foreign Ministry officials viewed the vote as something of an achievement for Israel, as the number of votes in favor had fallen since an initial committee ballot on the matter in November.

Kyiv’s support for the resolution in the committee last month sparked a diplomatic spat between Ukraine and Israel.

Under the previous government, Israel was careful not to be overly supportive of any side in the conflict, though it condemned Russia’s invasion on several occasions and supplied humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

The reasoning behind the decision is believed to be Israel’s strategic need to maintain freedom of operations in Syria, as part of its efforts to prevent Iranian entrenchment on its border. To that end, Israel cooperates with the Russian military, which largely controls Syria’s airspace.

But Kyiv has said it needs Israel’s help in air defense technology to counter Russia’s ongoing strikes on its civilian infrastructure.

During his previous terms in office, Netanyahu touted his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and insisted that it was critical to maintaining the IDF’s ability to operate freely over Syria.

In an interview ahead of last month’s election, he characterized the previous government’s Ukraine policy as “pragmatic.”

Both Putin and Zelensky congratulated Netanyahu immediately after the swearing-in of his new government.