In an exclusive conversation with WION correspondent Jody Cohen, the former Ambassador of Israel to India, Mark Soffer, has said that he hopes that diplomacy will solve the Ukraine crisis.
Russia has assembled an estimated 150,000 troops on three sides of Ukraine, the largest such build-up since the Cold War.
Moscow denies that it has any plans to attack, but wants Western guarantees that NATO will not allow Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to join as members.
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It has also called on the coalition to halt the deployment of weapons to Ukraine and withdraw its forces from Eastern Europe, which the West has vehemently rejected.
Supporting the ideology and viewpoint of the West, Sofar has stated that Israel has important national interests with both Ukraine and Russia.
He said that “Israel should take a middle ground in this conflict.” He added that although the country “is not a player in this dispute, we have a lot to lose”.
“When two elephants fight, the grass always suffers. And here, we’re clearly the grass,” Soffer said.
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He believes that the world should “hope for the best and prepare for the bad”.
Talking about Israel’s plans to rescue its citizens from Kiev, he said that the country is organizing flights for its citizens left in the country.
Israel is always at the forefront of saving Jews around the world. It is not difficult for the country to absorb them from abroad.
“In recent history, Jews have been expelled from many countries such as Iran and Ethiopia,” he said.