Stolen grain dispute exposes Israel's Russia balancing act
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- Zelenskyy took to X to accuse Israel of preparing to unload 25,000 tonnes of wheat and barley stolen from Russian-occupied Ukraine at Haifa port, and an investigation by Ha'aretz suggests the Panama-flagged Panormitis was at least the fifth such ship to arrive in Israel this year
- Ukraine filed a criminal complaint in Israel against the alleged grain buyers after what Ukrainian officials described as months of diplomatic pleas being met with 'angry lectures' by the Netanyahu government
- The Panormitis sailed out of Haifa on April 30 without unloading its cargo, according to Reuters photos cited in the article
- The European Union backed Ukraine, with spokesperson Anouar El Anouni saying Brussels 'remains ready to target such actions by listing individuals and entities in third countries if necessary'
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar fired back on social media accusing Ukraine of 'Twitter diplomacy' and claiming Kyiv had not submitted a formal legal assistance request before going public
- Israel refused to condemn Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea under Netanyahu, with then-FM Avigdor Lieberman telling Channel 9 that Israel had 'good and trusting relations with the Americans and the Russians,' and repeated the pattern after the 2022 full-scale invasion under PM Naftali Bennett — partly to protect military coordination with Russia in Syria
- Putin has publicly described Israel as 'almost a Russian-speaking country,' a line the article flags as evidence of the unusually warm personal rapport between the Russian and Israeli leaders
Why it matters: Zelenskyy — one of only two Jewish heads of government outside Israel — now has a formal criminal complaint pending in a country he might have expected solidarity from, and the EU has opened the door to sanctions on Israeli buyers and shippers. The dispute has finally dragged into the open Israel's years-long refusal to condemn Russia over either Crimea or the 2022 invasion, a stance driven in part by its Syria coordination with Moscow that no longer exists after Assad's fall.
