Bibi meets with Russian President Putin to discuss Iran in Syria

by Phil Schneider
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The Russian leadership and the State of Israel’s relationship has seen ups and downs since the founding of the State of Israel. When the fateful vote in 1947 in the UN for or against the State of Israel was taken, the Soviet Union voted in favor of the State of Israel. This was one of those rare times when the United States and the Soviet Union were on the same side of an issue. However, very soon after the founding of the State of Israel, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who had socialist views basically shifted from a more Socialist-oriented world view to a more Western-oriented world view. This, of course, led to a hostile approach between the Soviet Union and the State of Israel.

Soviet-Backed Wars Against Israel

In 1956, Israel fought it’s 1st war after the War of Independence. The Soviet Union was not very involved in that conflict. However, by 1967, the Soviet Union had built up it’s connection with Egypt and it’s advisors were largely managing the military. The weapons were also supplied from the Soviet Union. So too, in Syria, it was Soviet weaponry that was massed against Israel. The Soviets had experienced commanders who had fought in the 2nd World War and in other conflicts. Even though Israel handily defeated the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian Armies, the Soviets kept the weapons flowing for the next few years. Israel basically continued to battle for another 3 years in what would become called the War of Attrition. But the big surprise came in 1973 in the Yom Kippur War. That is when the Soviet weaponry and advisors delivered a terrible blow in the first 2-3 days of the battle. But Israel recovered and smashed through the Egyptian and Syrian defenses.

But the Soviets did not give up. They continued to rearm Israel’s enemies. However, today, things are different. The Soviet Union is nowhere as strong as it used to be. The dominant power in the world is the United States and the Soviet Union is a superpower, but not an equivalent power to the United States. But, PM Netanyahu has done an excellent job understanding that Israel should cooperate with Russia while struggling to keep it’s tentacles and supplies an arms distance from Israel’s borders. This is another of PM Netanyahu’s accomplishments.

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