Ukraine's support for a United Nations resolution calling for a nuclear-free Middle East has been a source of tension with Israel in recent days.
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One hundred and fifty-two countries voted in favor of the General Assembly resolution, while 24 (mostly from the European Union) abstained and 5 voted against it (United States, Canada, Micronesia, Palau, and Israel).
The resolution had been submitted by Egypt with the support of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Authority, and others. It singles out Israel as the only country in the Middle East and one of the few among the 193 UN member states not to have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Ukraine stance has been harshly criticized in Israel, with Israeli users online pointing out Kyiv was "demanding aid from Israel while at the same time voting against it at the UN."
Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Reuven Azman even sent a letter to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, saying the vote was a "terrible mistake that undid months of cooperation, support, and dialogue."
"It could sabotage the efforts of all those who worked for the expansion of Israeli aid to Ukraine. In Israel, the vote is viewed as a hostile action and even as a knife in the back ... Had Ukraine abstained, it would have been interpreted as a gesture of goodwill."
But according to Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk, Israelis' reaction came as a complete surprise.
"This vote is held annually and always with the same result," he said. "We always vote the same way because our position is consistently against nuclear weapons in the world. As a country that suffers following its voluntary relinquishment of this weapon (in 1994), we would not want Israel to suffer, but the decision is not against Israel. And officially Israel does not have nuclear weapons, so what is the commotion about?"
According to Korniychuk, "Ukraine's ambassador to the UN is shocked by the way the affair is described in Israel. At no point did any representative of the State of Israel contact him with a request to change the vote, and in fact, no one from the Israeli embassy in the UN has spoken to him since the beginning of the year. If Israel wanted a change, then it should have said something."
The ambassador also noted that Israel has refrained from recognizing Russia as an aggressor state after Ukraine asked all members of the General Assembly to do so.
"So instead of contacting and acting, Israel probably preferred to present itself after the fact as the victim. This happened more than once. Our other partners did not contact us either, which is unfortunate because the matter could have been resolved within a week," Korniychuk said.
Ukrainian officials also pointed out that Israel was not upset with other friendly countries, such as Azerbaijan, Greece, Cyprus, and the United Arab Emirates, who also voted in favor of the resolution, but instead chose to focus the attention specifically on Ukraine.
When asked whether Ukraine could have abstained or voted against the resolution, Korniychuk said, "I don't think we have a bad relationship. That's exactly why I think it was necessary to speak. If you want to get something from your partner, don't be shy. Regarding a gesture – look, we are waiting for a gesture of recognition of Russia as an aggressor. Last year I invested a lot of effort so that the parliament in Kyiv would outlaw antisemitism and make it a criminal offense.
"The law was passed, it was a gesture of goodwill, but when we brought up our own request, we were told that we, Ukrainians, were the ones who needed to outlaw antisemitism in the first place. It's a one-sided game. We are expected to open a branch of the embassy in Jerusalem, as a gesture of goodwill. We can talk endlessly about gestures."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry told Israel Hayom it had no comment on the controversy.
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