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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky ignored the request of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to vote against the UN General Assembly resolution on the occupation of Palestinian territories because of Israel’s position on military assistance to Kiev, according to the report published by Axios which cites anonymous Israeli and Ukrainian officials.
According to the claims of a Ukrainian official, Israeli Prime Minister in a phone call late Friday asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to vote against the UN General Assembly resolution that calls on the International Court of Justice to issue a legal opinion on the consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. The resolution introduced by Palestine proposed to send a request to the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague on the legal status of “the prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation by Israel of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.” It was finally approved by the UN General Assembly on December 30 with 87 countries voting in favor, 24 countries voting against and 53 countries abstaining.
On the eve of the vote, Netanyahu held a series of talks with leaders of countries who were expressing support for the initiative, including Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine already voted in favor of the resolution during a UN committee vote several weeks ago. Kiev defied Israeli requests to vote against the resolution during the UN committee vote because of Israel’s refusal to provide military assistance to Ukraine, Ukrainian officials had said. Israeli foreign ministry officials were furious at the time and summoned the Ukrainian ambassador for a tough conversation.
The Ukrainian leader said that in exchange for voting against the resolution or the Ukrainian abstention during the vote on December 30, he would like to hear how the new Israeli government would change its policy towards Kiev and provide Ukraine with air defense systems. Netanyahu did not promise anything, but expressed readiness to discuss the requests of the Ukrainian leader in the future.
Zelensky reportedly did not like this answer and he did not agree to vote against the resolution or abstain. As a result, the Ukrainian representative was not present at the vote in the General Assembly. The Israeli authorities were disappointed by Kiev’s decision, a senior Israeli official said.
“The two leaders weren’t satisfied and didn’t get what they wanted. Zelensky decided that we will not attend the vote in order to give a chance to the relationship with Netanyahu,” the Ukrainian official said.
Netanyahu’s office confirmed to Axios that the Prime Minister held the phone conversation with Zelensky, but refused to comment anything on “diplomatic conversations.” Later, the Ukrainian leader tweeted that during the call he congratulated Netanyahu on taking office and discussed bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
Since the beginning of the Russian military operations in Ukraine, Israeli authorities claimed that they were only supplying humanitarian and medical aid to Ukraine. Despite Kiev’s pledges, the Israeli Defense Ministry refused to supply the Kiev regime with the advanced air defence systems. The same position was expressed by Netanyahu, who became Prime Minister for the third time at the end of December.
However, the Kiev regime continues its attempts to come closer to Tel Aviv using the traditional media campaigns that become more and more ridiculous. Ukrainian Nazis from the notorious Azov battalion have recently visited Israel to “exchange their military experience” and the Azov Nazis are happy dancing with representatives of the Jewish diaspora. LINK
