We knew that the Israeli media would go bananas over Syria's decision to defend itself against Israeli airstrikes. But who could have foreseen this level of bananas?
Compliments of a Times of Israel "partner", we learn: "Israelis Now Forced To Consider The Putin Factor: Is Russia no longer Israel's security blanket in the Syrian civil war?"
Strange. We remember when Putin announced Russia's air operations in Syria. But we don't remember him mentioning anything about Russian forces intervening in order to be "Israel's security blanket".
Let's allow the author to clarify. Perhaps we're misreading this brain-dead question:
What was said about Israeli activities over the Syrian border a week ago only during private meetings is now discussed openly by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "When we detect attempts to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah and we have the intelligence and feasibility to carry out an operation, we will work to prevent it," he said.We see. So Russia isn't in Syria to fight the "moderate" rebels and Islamic State (which Israel prefers to Iran); no, Putin's primary objective in Syria is to "help keep the Syrian regime from acting against Israel". And if Russia isn't "protecting" Israel from Syria, this clearly raises "new and unsettling questions about the Russian regime".
But if Israelis are internalizing this reality, they're still mostly failing to grasp the new and unsettling questions about the Russian regime. Russia is Israel's security blanket in the Syrian civil war, with its presence there helping to keep the Syrian regime from acting against Israel, isn't it? Perhaps not, seeing that Russia didn't prevent the firing of anti-aircraft missiles towards Israeli targets.
Here's an idea: What about just "not bombing Syria?" Isn't that a good first step towards security and friendly relations with your neighbor?
Please just stop. But alas, it doesn't stop:
The situation is baffling, even to Syria experts like Hebrew University's Moshe Maoz. "There are so many enigmas, and it's very difficult to know what is going on," Maoz told me this week. Was the Syrian regime prepared to act against Israel in defiance of Russia, which would be worrying, or did Russia give it the go-ahead to fire, which would be deeply concerning?It's certainly baffling that Israel thinks it can bomb a sovereign nation with impunity — and then goes crying to Putin when it can't.
We do not believe that Russia is interested in any kind of confrontation with Israel. But this idea that Russia was Israel's mall cop in Syria is a bit extreme. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has made it clear that Russia thinks Hezbollah has played an important role in defeating ISIS in Syria. A bit of a diplomatic pickle for the Israelis, no?
It's clear that Russia and Israel have some sort of understanding in Syria. What's also clear is that last week's airstrikes near Palmyra (the Israelis insist they were targeting weapon shipments for Hezbollah) violated this understanding.
We reported earlier this week that Syria's U.N. envoy Bashar Jaafari said that Syria's use of anti-aircraft missiles against Israeli fighter jets was a "message" from Putin.
Israel's ambassador was summoned by Moscow after Friday's airstrikes, and reports have emerged that Russian military advisors were operating just a few kilometers from the area that was targeted by Israeli strikes; so there's certainly circumstantial evidence to back up Jaafari's claim.
But Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists the exact opposite — that Putin understands that "if there is a feasibility from an intelligence and military standpoint - [Israel will] attack [targets in Syria]".
If Israel seeks "security", maybe it should compromise and cooperate with its neighbors, instead of rooting for ISIS to win in Syria? It's a radical proposition — but it just might work.
P.S. — a final blockquote from this media metldown, because we can't resist:
Two weeks ago Netanyahu stood at the Kremlin, talking to Russia's President Vladimir Putin about Purim and the concern of Israelis of modern Haman-like plans to destroy the Jews.Yeah, that wasn't very compelling. Next time Netanyahu should try citing current events, instead of Bible stories from 2,000 years ago:
BLOCKBUSTER: RUSSIA SOLD ISRAEL CODES TO DISABLE IRAN AND SYRIAN AIR DEFENSESIran has apparently confirmed that Russia sold Israel the codes needed to disable Russian weapons systems it sold to Iran and Syria, including the S-300.Like I have said many times, Russia is NOT to be trusted!From Popular Mechanics:"An Iranian government official claimed earlier this week that its Russian-made air defenses were compromised by Moscow, leaving Iran and its allies defenseless against Israeli airstrikes. An engineer with Tehran's Ministry of Defense alleged that codes forcing anti-aircraft missiles to treat hostile Israeli fighters as friendly were sold to Tel Aviv, effectively neutralizing Syria and Iran's S-300 surface-to-air missile systemsAn Iranian official, described by the Jerusalem Post as a senior member of Iran's Defense Ministry, told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida that Russia had sold "codes" to Israel that identified Israeli aircraft as friendly. The codes were used by Israel to prevent its aircraft from being targeted. Israel has flown dozens of air raids over Syria, and despite advanced air defenses, only the latest raid, flown last Friday, involved an actual missile launch.The article doesn't say what the Iranians mean by "codes", but Tehran apparently means the Identify Friend or Foe codes that aircraft transmit to avoid being shot down by their own air defenses. The S-300 missile, an older surface-to-air missile similar to the American Patriot, was identified as the affected system. The S-300s not only would refuse to engage the Israeli planes, the report says, but also they wouldn't give notice that the planes had taken off from nearby Israel, giving Syrian troops time to prepare.According to Al-Jarida , "Iranians and the Syrians suspected that Russia gave the codes for the air defense system to Israel and even refused the requests of Tehran and Damascus to check the codes." As the story goes, Iran managed to change the codes on its own supplied S-300 missile systems, then sent engineers to Syria to change the codes on unspecified Syrian air defense systems. The fact that the Syrian missiles finally launched after the codes were changed confirmed to the Iranians that Russia had thrown them under the bus."