Israel and Russia hold diverging views on ME

Avi Dichter, a former head of the Israeli internal security agency said Tuesday that Russia’s interests in the Middle East by no means coincide with Israel’s and that Israel must be vigilant concerning Russia’s growing influence in the region.

In an interview with Reuters, Dichter, who serves as chairman of Foreign Affairs and ‘Defense’ Committee in the Israeli parliament, said that while Israel-Russia ties were good and that there was mutual respect between the two sides, “Russia thinks and acts as a superpower and as such it often ignores [the] Israeli interest when it doesn’t coincide with the Russian interest.”

Over the past year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin twice and has spoken with him on the phone six times, praising the developing relations between them and their convergence of opinion on a range of issues, according to Times of Israel.

Israel and Russia have been coordinating on a number of issues including a de-conflicting mechanism between their respective armies.

Dichter, however, warned Tuesday that “the gap between us and them is large and disturbing” on a number of issues, including Iran and the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah.