Why Ukraine is Threatening Israel with Sanctions

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]On Tuesday, amid a growing feud between Ukraine and Israel, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zalinski threatened to impose sanctions on Israeli individuals and businesses, accusing the country of importing grain stolen by Russia from occupied parts of Ukraine. The escalating dispute has seen Ukraine summon the Israeli ambassador and Israeli ministers accusing their Ukrainian counterparts of engaging in Twitter diplomacy. All this comes against the backdrop of the Israeli government's maintaining of ties with Moscow despite the invasion of Ukraine.

[00:00:30]So, in this video, we're going to explain the Ukraine Israel feud and what it says about Israel's complicated relationships with both Ukraine and Russia.

[00:00:46]Never miss an episode and always feel in the loop by subscribing and ringing the bell. So, let's start by explaining what's going on with this stolen Ukrainian grain. Ukraine is known as the bread basket of Europe owing to its rich, fertile black soil, which has helped it become one of the world's top grain exporters. Since invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has claimed four eastern and southern regions of Ukraine as its own. Donetsk, Luhansk, Kon, and Zaporia, as well as Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

[00:01:16]Russia calls these regions its new territories, although it doesn't actually control all the territory it's annexed, and the regions are internationally recognized as Ukrainian.

[00:01:26]Ukrainian authorities, backed up by multiple investigative reports, have accused Russia of stealing grain from occupied Ukraine and exporting it via sea, an act which generates funds for Putin's war machine. Russia uses an array of methods to evade detection, international sanctions, and so on, including turning off ships transponders before entering Russian or Russian occupied ports, transferring grain to different ships at sea, and laundering it by mixing it with legitimate Russian produce. So, where does Israel come into this? Well, earlier in April, the Abinsk, a Russian flagged bulk carrier, docked in the Israeli port city of Hifur. Ukrainian authorities say the ship was carrying wheat taken from occupied Ukraine and that they informed their Israeli counterparts before the Abinsk arrived in Hifur, requesting that they detain the vessel and its cargo.

[00:02:15]However, in midappril, much to Ukraine's frustration, the Abbins docked at Hifur, unloaded its cargo, and went on its way.

[00:02:22]A recent investigation by the Israeli newspaper Harets indicates that this was not the first time that stolen Ukrainian grain had been imported for the Israeli market since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that four shipments of stolen Ukrainian grain had already been unloaded in Israel this year alone. This week, the diplomatic spat escalated further as Ukraine urged Israel to take action over another vessel, the Panameanian flagged Panomitus, which was approaching Hifer and was said to be carrying stolen grain. On Monday, with the ship having arrived in Hifur, Ukraine's foreign minister Andre Cibbeha warned that Israel accepting the stolen grain would harm Ukraine Israel relations and said that the Israeli ambassador had been summoned. This was met with a cold reaction from Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sar, who said diplomatic relations are not conducted on Twitter or in the media and accused Ukraine of failing to provide substantive evidence. In the face of apparent Israeli action on Tuesday, President Zilinski wrote, "This is not and cannot be legitimate business. The Israeli authorities cannot be unaware of which ships are arriving at the country's ports and what cargo they are carrying." He added that Ukraine was preparing a sanctions package that would cover both those directly transporting this grain and the individuals and legal entities attempting to profit from this criminal scheme. The EU, meanwhile, condemned all actions that help fund Russia's illegal war effort and circumvent EU sanctions and said it remains ready to target such actions by listing individuals and entities in third countries if necessary. Now, exactly what happens with this grain issue, whether it's resolved or whether it escalates, remains to be seen, but it forms part of a longerunning straining of tensions between Ukraine and Israel, which we're going to take a look at now.

[00:04:06]At face value, there are many reasons why Ukraine and Israel should have close relations. They're both in the Western camp. There are something like half a million Israelis with Ukrainian background and tens of thousands of Jews in Ukraine, including President Zilinski. However, tensions have emerged as a result of Israel's ties with Russia. For instance, the Netanyahu led Israeli government did not join the West in condemning Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, instead staking out a more neutral position. Over the years, Netanyahu developed a close relationship with Vladimir Putin, something he made visible during the 2019 Israeli election with a giant poster of the pair shaking hands. Coordination between Israel and Russia was important in creating a deconliction mechanism in Syria to prevent them inadvertently clashing amid their separate interventions in the civil war. Netanyahu was in opposition when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, but the Naftali Bennett led Israeli government largely continued with his predecessors approach. In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, Bennett towed a cautious line, refraining from personally condemning Russia's actions.

[00:05:12]In early March 2022, Zalinsky expressed disappointment in the Israeli prime minister for not doing enough in support of Ukraine. Israel initially supplied humanitarian aid to Ukraine and later agreed to send flat jackets and helmets to the country's rescue services, but refrained from joining the Westernled sanctions effort against Russia and refused requests for military aid. This position unsurprisingly continued after Netanyahu's return to office in late 2022 with him rejecting demands for Israel to provide in battle Ukraine with its world famous Iron Dome air defense system. However, post October the 7th, there has been a cooling of Israel Russia relations. Israel, for example, was angered by Russia's hosting of a Hamas delegation in late 2023. And most obviously, Russia's increasingly close alliance with Iran, which along with its proxies has come into direct conflict with Israel, is another major cause of contention. But strangely, this doesn't seem to have engendered warmer relations between Israel and Ukraine. Last year, Israel joined Russia, the US, and others in voting against a resolution condemning and marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As recently as last December, Netanyahu said that he speaks with Putin on a regular basis, and that this personal relationship of many years serves Israel's vital interests. It's likely that the significant proportion of Israelis who come from a Russian background and Russia's sizable Jewish population are a factor in Netanyahu's thinking. Furthermore, while Russia ally Assad is gone from Syria, Syria is still a notable factor. In fact, Israel reportedly wanted Russia to maintain its military presence in a postass Assad Syria as a check against Turkish influence. It is still pretty remarkable though that the emergence of the Russia Iran axis and the fact that both Israel and Ukraine are under attack from Iranian-made drones has not pushed Israel to take a harder public line on Russia and align more closely with Ukraine. To be fair, the US's warming of ties with Russia under Trump has made it easier for Israel to defy international pressure in relation to Russia. That being said, Israel, and specifically Netanyahu, who like Putin is increasingly being treated like a pariah and faces international arrest warrants and court orders, has proven highly willing to defy international pressure in recent years. So, you're probably wondering what's next for this story and how it's going to develop over the coming days and weeks. But it might be overwhelming to try and sift through thousands of news articles trying to find the one that you can trust not to feed you a false narrative. Luckily, we have a simple solution for you. And that solution is Ground News. You've probably heard us talk about Ground News before, the app and website that shows how the same story is covered across the political spectrum. But now more than ever, we need Ground News to truly understand what's really going on in the world around us. It's difficult finding trustworthy news sources. So, Ground News will do the hard work for you, compiling thousands of articles and putting them in one easy to access place. Each article even comes with a breakdown into bias distribution, factuality, and ownership of each individual source. For instance, if we take this story on Ukraine accusing Israel of taking in stolen grain, we can see that 116 sources are currently reporting on it with most of the coverage coming from the left. Looking at the headlines, we can dive deeper to understand the differences in reporting on each side. with the left focusing more on the stolen grain and the right shifting the emphasis to the wider crisis in relations. Our absolute favorite feature though is their blind spot feed. Here you can see all the stories you might not have seen on your usual feed. So even if you don't agree with the reporting, it's good to step out of your bubble. And it's not just us that feel this way. The Nobel Peace Center also proudly endorses ground news, calling it an excellent way to stay informed, avoid echo chambers, and expand your worldview. So, if you want to start questioning the narrative, you can join Ground News today and using our link, we'll get you 40% off their unlimited access Vantage plan. All you have to do is subscribe through the link in the description. Go to ground.news/tlddr or scan the QR code on screen and you'll be supporting an independent news platform working to make the media landscape more transparent.