Israel Offered to Broker Russia-Ukraine Mediation Summit in Jerusalem: Report

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett reportedly offered to host a Russia-Ukraine mediation summit in Jerusalem last year — an initiative prompted by Kyiv, but rejected by Moscow.

Bennett raised the idea during his latest visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, on October 22, in a push to avert a crisis between the neighboring powers, Israeli news portal Walla reported, citing Ukrainian and Israeli officials. A day before the Sochi meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed the summit in a call with Bennett, suggesting it could be led by the countries’ national security advisors.

Tensions have risen in recent weeks as Russia deployed more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday, reiterated US warnings that Russia could attack Ukraine at any moment, a charge Moscow has dismissed.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said that Israel’s mediation efforts began about a year ago, after former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu helped Ukraine strike a much-needed vaccine deal with Pfizer in February. That spring, a senior Ukrainian delegation visiting Jerusalem raised the idea of a mediation summit between Putin and Zelensky to Netanyahu. Israel was seen as a good messenger as it maintains close ties with both Russia and Ukraine.

While not enthused by the idea, the former Israeli leader agreed to try it out if both sides showed willingness. Netanyahu’s advisers raised the idea with the Kremlin in April and again in May, but didn’t receive a positive response from Putin, according to the report.

In early October, when Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Kyiv, Zelensky inquired whether the new Israeli government under Bennett would revive the mediation efforts, Ukrainian and Israeli officials said. While Bennett accordingly conveyed the message to Putin during their Sochi meeting, the Russian president was reportedly not enthusiastic in the least.

Israel has in recent weeks tried to keep its distance from the crisis. “We love Ukraine, but we are not going to get involved in a conflict between superpowers like the US and Russia,” a senior Israeli official told Walla. “We have enough on our plate.”

Ahead of his meeting with Zelensky in Kyiv on Wednesday, Blinken called for diplomacy to de-escalate the crisis.

“At the same time, we’ve made it very clear to Moscow that if it chooses to renew aggression against Ukraine, it will mean that it will face very severe consequences,” he warned.