As war rages in the country’s east, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has picked a bizarre fight with Israel.
Accusing Israel of buying grain stolen from areas occupied by Russia, he asked Europe to place sanctions on the country.
The European Union, perpetually obsessed with Israel, appeared eager to penalize Israel at the behest of Ukraine. “The European Union said it was mulling sanctions on Israeli individuals and entities aiding Russia,” the far-left Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
Earlier this week, Ukraine claimed that a Russian ship carrying ‘stolen’ grain was heading towards the Israeli port of Haifa. According to the Israeli government, Ukraine did not provide any evidence. What made Ukraine’s actions even more curious was that Zelenskyy issued those threats before Israel could even verify the claims.
Zelenskyy has singled out Israel without proper scrutiny, while ignoring the fact that Russia is selling ‘stolen’ grain to other countries, including Turkey.
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, “explained that the vessel in question had not yet entered Haifa port and had yet to submit its documents, which meant it was not possible to verify Ukrainian claims that the document detailing the cargo had been forged,” the BBC reported Tuesday.
The British broadcaster continued:
“The Ukrainian government has not submitted a request for legal assistance. It has submitted tweets. This is required when the claims concern criminal acts committed abroad,” he said. “Nor has the Ukrainian government provided evidence for its claims.”Saar added: “We reject Twitter diplomacy and we will not be influenced by that. We say again to our Ukrainian friends: If you have any evidence of theft, submit it through the appropriate channels.”
The diplomatic onslaught against Israel comes as Ukraine forges strategic partnerships with Turkey and Qatar, both countries hostile to the Jewish State.
Last month, Ukraine signed a lucrative defense deal with Qatar. “Ukraine signed a 10-year defence agreement with Qatar … as part of a series of deals with Gulf countries to counter missile and drone threats,” the France24 TV channel reported last March. “Kyiv is seeking to leverage its battlefield expertise and secure new partnerships amid rising regional tensions.” Qatar shelters Hamas’s terrorist leadership and uses the state-funded Al Jazeera to peddle pro-Hamas propaganda in the Arab and Muslim world. Recently surfaced evidence suggests that Qatar may have used its sway over the International Criminal Court (ICC) to orchestrate a witch hunt against Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
Ukraine also seeks close ties with its Black Sea neighbour, Turkey. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey is pursuing a neo-Ottoman imperial policy, trying to position itself as a central authority within the Islamic world.
British weekly The Economist commented last week that “American unreliability is creating conditions for new alliances of convenience” in the region and “Ukraine’s quest for new friends takes it to Turkey and Syria.” Under its Islamist ruler, Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria is now a satellite in Turkey’s regional sphere.
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