When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu meets US President Barack Obama in the White House on Monday, he will be meeting a president preoccupied with the Ukrainian crisis, a crisis that some have called the most dangerous situation in Europe since the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Israel has no dog in this fight, and will try as best it can to stay out of it.

Obviously it does not want to do or say anything that would antagonize the US, its greatest ally. But, likewise, it has no interest in doing or saying anything that would rile or alienate Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Israel has a good and cordial relationship with Moscow, and – with Iran and Syria, two areas where Moscow has significant influence – does not want to unnecessarily irritate Putin.

Putin can, if he would want, make things much more difficult for Israel. That explains Jerusalem’s total radio silence regarding the crisis. Just as Brazil and Singapore are not issuing statements about the situation in the Crimean Peninsula, neither does Israel feel the need to get involved.

Read the article in full at Jerusalem Post.