Netanyahu, Putin To Discuss Iran In Moscow After Holocaust Commemoration Event
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
MOSCOW (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made firm statements about Iran before leaving for Russia to discuss the Islamic Republic with one of its key allies, President Vladimir Putin.
In Russia, Netanyahu will discuss with Putin “Iran’s effort to turn Lebanon into one giant missile site, a site for precision missiles against the State of Israel, which we will not tolerate,” Netanyahu said in a statement published Monday morning.
Netanyahu, who has traveled to Russia to meet with Putin six times in the past two years, said he and Putin “meet periodically in order to ensure the military coordination between the Israel Defense Forces and the Russian forces in Syria; as of today this has succeeded and it is important that it continue to succeed.”
Also on the agenda, Netanyahu said, is “Iran’s relentless efforts to establish a military presence in Syria, which we strongly oppose and are also taking action against.”
Russia is a military ally of Bashar Assad, Syria’s president, and of the Iranian regime, with which it conducts major arms deals. Russia is also an important trading partner of Israel and maintains good relations with the Jewish state.
In Moscow, Netanyahu is scheduled to visit with Putin the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center. The Museum is hosting an event in memory of the Sobibor Uprising ahead of its 75th anniversary.
One of the most famous acts of resistance by Jews to the Nazis during the Holocaust, the Sobibor Uprising got off the ground after the arrival to the Sobibor death camp in northeastern Poland of several Red Army veterans with combat experience. They killed 11 SS officers and freed 300 inmates, though only a few dozen escaped without being caught immediately after the uprising.
The event in Moscow’s Jewish museum, an award-winning institution that was established in 2012, is attended by descendants of survivors from Sobibor, Red Army veterans and the leadership of Russia’s Jewish community.
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