Israel’s Russian conundrum

seven years Israel and Russia have closely co-ordinated with each other on the ground and in the skies of the Middle East. The war in Ukraine may, however, be rattling these arrangements. On July 15th a Russian court ordered the Jewish Agency to close its offices in Russia. The agency is not technically part of Israel’s government but acts on its behalf, maintaining ties between the state of Israel and the Jewish diaspora around the world. Above all, it facilitates the emigration of Jews to Israel.Until Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February, relations had been good. Even after Russia sent an expeditionary force to Syria in 2015 to prop up the then failing regime of Bashar al-Assad, a modus vivendi was soon agreed upon. Despite occupying Syrian air space, Russia let Israel continue to bomb Syria’s Iranian allies fighting for Mr Assad on the ground. In effect, Russian and Israeli warplanes divided the skies over Syria between them.