In the Middle East, everything can change from minute to minute, and that’s exactly what happened to Israel this week. It began with a violent escalation in the Syrian arena, continued with a violent escalation in the Gaza arena and tension in both arenas that lasted into Friday. But by Friday night things were taking a turn for the better. Three developments in the last few days – both on the Syrian and Gazan fronts – have significantly improved the security situation from an Israeli perspective.

The first improvement occurred on Friday, when Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov went on CNN and announced that Russia is not exactly an ally of the Iranians and that Israel’s security must also be taken into account. Such a statement by the Russian deputy foreign minister can be seen as a diplomatic turning point, in which Moscow corrects course after a stormy few months. For it was just on Tuesday that a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Israel’s “arbitrary” attacks on Syria should stop. Three days later, and the same Foreign Ministry in Moscow – albeit via a higher rank than the spokeswoman – is singing from a new hymn sheet.

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