Israel’s UN vote signals shift toward Russia

Israel joined the United States and Russia in voting against a United Nations General Assembly resolution condeming the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The resolution last Monday reaffirmed Ukraine’s territorial integrity and included a strongly-worded condemnation of Russia’s invasion on the war’s third anniversary. Also voting “no” were Belarus, North Korea, Hungary, and around a dozen other countries.

Israel’s vote marks the first time the country has voted against Ukraine and aligned with Russia since the war began. Up until the final moments before the vote, Israel was unsure of the United States’ stance and whether it would indeed oppose the resolution, Ynetnews reported.

Israel had previously supported Ukraine in UN votes, though it has also sought to maintain relations with both sides—partly due to the presence of Russian forces near Israel’s border.

Ukraine's ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said many ministers, Knesset members, and ordinary citizens had contacted him to say they were ashamed of this vote.

"I repeatedly emphasise that the people of Ukraine and Israel are one big family that feels each other's pain. This makes it so difficult to understand the position of Israeli officials—a country at war after being attacked without provocation, a country that, like Ukraine, fights for its right to exist," he said.

It is tempting to view Israel's vote against Ukraine at the UN General Assembly as a direct result of new political shifts in the United States. However, Haaretz journalist Amir Tibon argues that Trump is merely a convenient excuse. “The more disturbing and shameful truth is that Israel never showed any moral courage on the Ukraine issue and is aligning itself not just with the new US president, but also with Russia's ideological partners and useful idiots in Europe,” Tibon wrote.

He also notes that, on the same day as the vote, journalist Barak Ravid reported on X that Israel’s new foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, had instructed his office to change its decades-long policy of avoiding cooperation with far-right European parties that have a history of Holocaust denial and of glorifying war criminals involved in the mass murder of European Jewry.

This follows an earlier push, revealed by Haaretz in 2023, to whitewash Romania’s far-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians party under then-Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. These parties tend to support Russia over Ukraine and are promoted by the Kremlin, which views them as internal disrupters that weaken Europe and serve President Vladimir Putin’s long-term strategic goals.

And this is where the two threads combine. Under its current government, Israel is moving towards Russia, away from Ukraine, and closer to Putin’s favoured parties in various European countries. This strategic shift—which has long-term moral implications for the Jewish state and the Jewish people—is driven by short-term political interests and was never properly debated within the government. But it is now the reality, one that Israel’s traditional allies and supporters will have to take into account moving forward.

Reacting to the criticism, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told Politico that Israel voted “no” to support the American push for an end to the war—not because it had changed its views on the conflict. The Trump administration is reversing US policy on the war, placing diplomatic and economic pressure on Ukraine while strengthening ties with Russia. “We voted with the Americans, and I do believe that Russia is the aggressor,” Sa’ar said. “We haven’t changed our mind, but we thought it was right to give a chance to America’s initiative to try to end this war and solve it by peaceful means.”

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Israel's UN vote against Ukraine is about much more than just backing Trump (Amir Tibon, Haaretz)

Joining US, Israel votes against UN motion condemning Russian invasion of Ukraine (The Times of Israel)

Not even in my worst nightmares did I imagine Israel voting against Ukraine at the UN (Olga Vasylevska-Smahliuk, Haaretz)

Ukraine attacks Israel after its UN sovereignty vote aligns with Trump’s pro-Russia stance (Ynetnews)