Israël et l’Ukraine : une ambiguïté extrême
▻http://www.dedefensa.org/article-isra_l_et_l_ukraine_une_ambigu_t_extr_me_12_04_2014.html
• La position d’Israël vis-à-vis de la crise ukrainienne est d’une ambiguïté exemplaire. • Les liens avec Moscou comptent-ils plus dans ce cas que les liens avec Washington ?
U.S. officials angry: Israel doesn’t back stance on Russia
Amid tension, Netanyahu backs out of event he was invited to personally by Putin.
►http://www.haaretz.com/mobile/.premium-1.585333?v=D97A0B2854A04B94D98D82EF9EBCFBD7
By Barak Ravid
Published 02:49 13.04.14
White House and State Department officials in Washington have built up a great deal of anger over Jerusalem’s “neutrality” regarding Russia’s invasion of the Crimean Peninsula. Senior figures in the Obama administration have expressed great disappointment with the lack of support from Israel for the American position on the Ukraine crisis and with the fact that the Israeli government puts its relations with the United States and with Russia on the same plane.
One senior U.S. official noted that one of the reasons for the anger in the White House was Israel’s absence from the UN General Assembly vote about two weeks ago on a resolution censuring the Russian invasion and expressing support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
“We have been consulting closely on Ukraine not only with our partners and allies around the world," a senior U.S. official told Haaretz. "Obviously we are looking to the entire international community to condemn Russia’s actions and to support Ukraine, so we were surprised to see that Israel did not join the large majority of countries that voted to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity at the United Nations.”
A senior Israeli official said that Israel’s absence from the United Nations vote was viewed around the world as an extremely irregular measure, a departure from a long-standing Israeli policy of voting with the United States in the UN. While the Americans viewed Israel’s behavior as ungrateful, in light of Washington’s unshakable support for Jerusalem in the UN, in the Kremlin and in the Russian media Israel’s action was seen as an expression of support for Moscow, or at the very least a lack of opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Israeli official, in response to U.S. inquiries Israel attributed its absence at the vote to the strike by the Foreign Ministry’s employees. The White House and the State Department found the explanation wanting, especially in light of the lack of advanced notice from Jerusalem.