Putin blasts Israel’s ‘disrespect of status-quo’ in call with Abbas
April 19, 2022- World Israel News
Putin phones Palestinian leader to express disapproval of Israel’s actions on Temple Mount as fallout from Lapid’s statement about Russian “war crimes” grows.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
On the heels of a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett demanding that Israel transfer ownership of a church compound in Jerusalem to Russia, President Vladimir Putin phoned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to slam the Israeli security forces’ recent actions on the Temple Mount.
According to a report from Russian state-owned news agency RIA, Putin discussed a number of subjects with Abbas.
As global food prices soar due to inflation, with the supply chain crisis sparked by the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Putin reportedly told Abbas that Palestinians will enjoy unfettered access to “Russian wheat, materials, and crops.”
PA-owned state news agency Wafa said that “Putin stressed Russia’s firm position in support of the rights of the Palestinian people, and that Russia will continue to …support…the Palestinian cause in all international forums.”
Wafa reported that Putin expressed his disapproval of Israel’s large-scale arrests of violent rioters on the Temple Mount, saying that he did not agree with “the Israeli practices that prevent worshippers from freely accessing the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Putin also was said to have criticized Israel for not “respecting the existing historical status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.”
Moscow has long maintained warm ties with the PA. Dozens of Palestinians in Bethlehem staged a modest pro-Putin rally in Bethlehem’s central square at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
After Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid slammed Putin for committing “war crimes” in Ukraine, in a major departure from Israeli government policy of remaining neutral during the conflict, Russia fired back with a harsh statement.
“The Israeli Foreign Minister’s statements evoke regret and rejection,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
“There was a poorly camouflaged attempt to take advantage of the situation in Ukraine to distract the international community’s attention from one of the oldest unsettled conflicts — the Palestine-Israeli one,” the ministry claimed.
Russia warns Israel: Hand over Jerusalem compound immediately
April 18, 2022- World Israel News
After conflicting decisions by Israeli prime ministers, Putin demands ownership of church compound in Jerusalem be officially transferred to Russia.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett must immediately follow through on a promise given to Russia by his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, and transfer ownership of a Jerusalem church to Moscow, wrote Vladimir Putin in a strongly worded letter to Israel’s premier on Sunday.
The timing of the demand is significant, as it came shortly after Foreign Minister Yair Lapid harshly criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine, accusing Moscow of war crimes.
Israel also recently voted to remove Russia from the UN’s Human Rights Council, a move which sparked Russian officials to summon the Israeli ambassador in Moscow for a dressing down
The Alexander Nevsky Church, also known as the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, is a prominent holy site for the Russian Orthodox Church, located in the Christian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem.
During the Ottoman Empire era, the site was registered as belonging to the “Russian kingdom.” In 2017, Russia requested that Israel officially transfer ownership of the church and its compound to Moscow.
Initially, the Israeli government held that such a change in ownership would need to be investigated and decided upon by the Supreme Court.
But after Israeli-American Na’ama Issachar was imprisoned for traveling through a Russian airport with a small amount of cannabis in her possession in 2020, then-premier Netanyahu agreed to formally return the site back to Moscow.
Israeli land registry records were changed to state that the compound belonged to Russia later that year.
However, after taking office, Bennett reportedly ordered that the decision be reversed and the matter once again be determined by the Supreme Court.
Up until recently, it had appeared that a Russia was willing to wait until the case played out in an Israeli court, but Lapid’s comments make have ended Moscow’s patience.
“Now we are fighting for the return of the Compound, and it is very difficult: we were almost there, we worked for five years, we found all the historical documents, but the situation with Ukraine occurred, and Israel behaved as it often does – playing with both sides, playing ping pong with everyone,” Sergei Stepashin, who is currently visiting Israel and manages Russia’s properties in the Middle East, told media.