Netanyahu Gets a Timely Campaign Gift from Putin
To the West, the Russian president is a dangerous autocrat. To the Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, he is a soul mate and ally.
Mutual admiration society.
Photographer: IVAN SEKRETAREV/AFP/Getty Images
Vladimir Putin is considered by many Western leaders to be a toxic and dangerous figure. But in Israel, courting Putin has served Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu well; it may even help his re-election next week.
Netanyahu flew to Moscow Thursday, five days before the election, and was beaming as Putin dropped a bombshell at a joint press conference. Putin revealed that it was Russian soldiers in Syria who had discovered the remains of Staff Sargent Zachary Baumel, which were returned home on an El Al flight. Baumel had been listed as missing in action since the first Israel’s first war in Lebanon, in 1982.