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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to mediate the Russia-Ukraine conflict. PHOTO/Reuters
TEL AVIV – Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday (1/2/2023), that he was willing to consider becoming an intermediate mediator Russia and Ukraine if requested by both the warring countries and the United States.
“If asked by all the relevant parties, I will definitely consider it, but I’m not pushing myself,” Netanyahu told CNN in an interview. He added it had to be “the right time and the right circumstances.”
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“Israel’s close ally, the United States, also needs to ask because “you can’t have too many cooks in the kitchen,” Netanyahu continued.
Netanyahu said he was asked to mediate shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year. However, he refused because he was the leader of the Israeli opposition at the time, not the prime minister.
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“I have a rule: one prime minister at a time,” he said. Netanyahu would not say who asked him to assume the role, but he said the request was “unofficial”.
Ukraine asked Netanyahu’s predecessor, Naftali Bennett, to act as mediator and Bennett met in March with Russian President Vladimir Putin and also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky but he was unable to broker a peace deal.
(esn)
