Netanyahu: Israel and Russia Interests Clashed Over Iran

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, at the presentation of Israel's national security doctrine, that Israel and Russia have found themselves on opposite sides several times recently. He pointed to two disputes: Moscow's cooperation with Iran, and bot networks waging antisemitic campaigns against the Jewish state.

"Russia's cooperation with Iran is something that runs counter to its interests, as does the existence of bot networks conducting a campaign against the State of Israel with the most blatant antisemitism imaginable," Netanyahu said.

For Israelis, both issues are on the table with Moscow. "We raise all these issues with them, and we do so very clearly," the prime minister stated.

Threats facing Israel (Photo: Mayan Toaf/GPO)

Asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin, Netanyahu said the two leaders "speak when necessary." He described a relationship of competing priorities: "Russia has its own interests, and the State of Israel has its interests, and they do not always overlap. Sometimes they even clash. That is why I always try to pursue our shared interests to the fullest extent possible. If that is not possible, you stand by your own interests and fight to defend them."

Netanyahu argued that Moscow grasps that some interests are common to both countries and could be endangered, offering the example of an Islamist Iran armed with nuclear weapons. He also warned that Tehran could seek to recruit agents from among Russia's own Muslim population. "Iran holds extreme ideological views concerning the conquest of the world, the subjugation of all Muslims to its doctrine, and the imposition of that doctrine on all nonbelievers," he said.

The Jerusalem Post noted a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stating that Russia keeps sending Iran military equipment and components. An August report, drawing on a European government document and a Western official, listed drone parts, ammunition and explosives among the Russian cargo shipped to Iran over the Caspian Sea. By July, upward of two dozen Russian ships had reportedly delivered goods to Iran's Amirabad port.

Reuters reported in July that US intelligence officials were looking into whether Russia had handed Iran targeting information or technology that made Iranian Shahed drones more accurate and more resistant to jamming. Russia has spent years building and upgrading the Iranian-designed drones for its war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials have warned that those wartime improvements could now benefit Iran, making its drones harder to intercept.

Netanyahu unveiled the doctrine at a rare press briefing on Sunday. The document names nuclear weapons, precision missiles, drones, cyber, artificial intelligence and delegitimization among the threats Israel faces. At the same briefing, Netanyahu said he has directed security officials to work toward toppling the Iranian regime.