Despite this, on April 3, Israel’s top diplomat took to Twitter, writing that it is “impossible to remain indifferent in the face of the horrific images from the city of Bucha near Kyiv, from after the Russian army left.” Lapid added: “Intentionally harming a civilian population is a war crime and I strongly condemn it.”

Contrary to the narrative promoted by the BBC and other publications, Israeli officials have on multiple occasions voiced support for Ukraine. Hours before Russia’s full-scale military campaign began on February 24, the Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a communiqué that backed the “territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine.” The missive said that Israel “hopes for a diplomatic solution which will lead to calm, and is willing to help if asked.”

Jerusalem later stressed the need for an “immediate ceasefire in Ukraine,” emphasizing that the Jewish state “identif[ies] with the citizens that are under considerable danger and stress in Kyiv, Kharkiv, in the south and in other locations.” Furthermore, Lapid has consequently called the attack on Ukraine a “serious violation of the international order,” supported Kyiv at the United Nations, and shipped humanitarian aid to Ukrainians.

In response to Lapid’s statements, Israeli Ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Ben Zvi, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on February 25. In a subsequent announcement, Moscow’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, “expressed hope” that Israel would show understanding for the military assault on Ukraine. For his part, Russian Ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov, cautioned the Jewish state to “continue [taking] a wise diplomatic approach” and not join “a new kind of sport” of bashing Russia.

The diplomatic dressing-down demonstrated the costs associated with Israeli moves against Russia, which, as Middle East expert Jonathan Schanzer noted, “cannot be overstated.”

For the last decade, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has been forced to carry out airstrikes on Iranian military assets in Syria, in what has become known as the “war between wars” with the Islamic Republic. By sending Shiite fighters, advanced weapon systems, and other military hardware to areas close to Israel’s border, Tehran is attempting to create a new front with the Jewish state, similar to what it did by backing Gaza Strip-based terror groups and the Hezbollah terror organization in Lebanon.

At the same time, since 2015 Russia has supported the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and the armed forces of the Russian Federation have become the primary actor in the country, necessitating Israeli military cooperation with the Kremlin. To prevent Israel and Russia from clashing inside Syrian territory, Jerusalem and Moscow have in recent years maintained a so-called deconfliction mechanism.

In the words of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the “cooperation mechanism with [Russia] assists in our determined battle against Iranian entrenchment on our northern border.”

This week, Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin, Israel’s exiting air force chief, revealed that the IAF has already lost unrestricted aerial superiority in neighboring Lebanon, where Iran’s proxy Hezbollah is believed to have amassed over 150,000 missiles that can be used in an all-out assault against Israel.

Two other recent incidents further illustrate the fragility of Israel’s understandings with Russia, which underpin Jerusalem’s “delicate balancing act” towards the country.

As Russian troops readied to attack Ukraine, the UN Security Council in New York on February 23 gathered to discuss, among other issues, “the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.” During the meeting, Russian representative Dmitry Polyanskiy slammed “Tel Aviv’s [sic] announced plans to expand settlement activity in the occupied Golan Heights,” stressing that Moscow does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the area he described as “an integral part of Syria.”

Analysts noted (see, for example, here and here) that Russia’s rebuke of Israel’s control of parts of the Golan came barely two hours after Jerusalem initially weighed in on the looming Russian invasion of Ukraine. Then, on March 11, Russia Today’s Arabic-language website published footage that reportedly showed Russian military police patrolling the Syrian part of the Golan Heights. In the six-minute video, soldiers near Israel’s border can be seen marking armored vehicles with the letter ‘Z’ — understood to be a symbol of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — in what some saw as an ominous message to the Israeli government.

Strikingly, implicit threats by Moscow to close Syria’s skies to Israeli fighter jets, which would make the Jewish state and the whole Middle East less secure, did not make it into most news reports about Israel’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Israel’s ever-precarious position in the region, perpetuated by Iran’s terrorism and expansionism, is seemingly lost on some 75 percent of the journalists reporting on Jerusalem’s diplomatic approach to Russia.