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Some Israeli officials have been perversely calculating aloud which great power we owe more to — perversely, because every Israeli child knows the answer, in terms of military supplies, diplomatic support at the United Nations and political support around the world. They also know how much we could lose if the White House and the State Department got really mad at us.
Nevertheless, some officials defend a pro-Russia position, on grounds that are unclear and certainly unexpressed. In this respect, the present dilemma is reminiscent of the last, at the end of the 1990s, when Washington naturally expected support from client states like Israel for its anti-Serbian Balkans policy – and found the Israeli foreign minister, Ariel Sharon, much less than enthusiastic. This happened despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s repeated urgings that Israel broadcast its support for its patron.
Sharon’s motives were unclear. They were never fully explained. Senior Foreign Ministry officials pointed to Jewish interests. He was thinking, they suggested, of the still-very-large Jewish community in Russia and its still-precarious situation.
Others suggested the Holocaust as the source of his policy making. The Serbs had been persecuted by the German SS. Many had been shot alongside Jews and Gypsies. Jewish refugees brought stories of Serbs saving Jews and standing up to Germans. (Late politician and journalist Tommy Lapid told such stories. He, like Sharon, was loath to join the NATO-led anti-Serbian front.)
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.585494
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