Free Naama

Russia is not Gaza and the Kremlin is not Hamas. Nevertheless, it seems Moscow is using Issachar as a pawn to advance some sort of distorted political agenda.

DECEMBER 22, 2019 15:29

Thousands protest in Habima Square, Tel Aviv, against the arrest of Naama Issachar in Russia. (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI) — Thousands protest in Habima Square, Tel Aviv, against the arrest of Naama Issachar in Russia.

(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)

A Russian court last week rejected American-Israeli Naama Issachar’s appeal of her seven-year sentence on charges of smuggling drugs.

Issachar was arrested in April after nine grams of marijuana were found in her bag as she stopped in Moscow’s airport on her way back to Israel from a vacation in India. She told the court on Thursday at the time of her arrest she was forced to sign a document in Russian without understanding it and has since found herself behind bars without basic human rights. She also said the drugs were not hers and had somehow been planted in her bag.

We do not know what is true but what we do know is Russia has taken Issachar hostage. Her initial arrest might have been justified but a seven-year jail sentence is absurd and can only be interpreted as a diplomatic attack against the State of Israel.

There are a number of theories why Russia would do this. Originally, it was presumed, that Russia was holding on to Issachar to get Israel to release Alexei Burkov, a Russian hacker who had been arrested due to an extradition request by the United States. Burkov has since been extradited to America and is no longer in Israeli custody.

Another possibility is Russia wants to get back at Israel for detaining and deporting Russian visitors on a regular basis when they land at Ben-Gurion Airport. On Wednesday, Russia detained several dozen Israeli tourists who landed at Moscow’s airport. After about four hours of questioning and delays, the tourists were finally allowed into the country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to do all he can to secure Issachar’s release. Issachar is likely to be one of the key issues he will bring up with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visits Israel next month to attend a ceremony at Yad Vashem, marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army.

Captives in Israel are a sensitive issue, one that touches on a raw national nerve and has seen the country engage in costly prisoner swaps over the years. Most recently was the 2011 swap with Hamas which saw the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a single IDF soldier, Gilad Schalit. Israel continues to try and find a way to secure the release of two Israeli citizens being held in Gaza as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers, killed in Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Russia is not Gaza and the Kremlin is not Hamas. Nevertheless, it seems Moscow is using Issachar as a pawn to advance some sort of distorted political agenda. Is it to get Israel to stop detaining its own nationals or to force Israel to stop attacking in Syria is anyone’s guess. For now, her only path to freedom is a presidential pardon from Putin.

Lahav Harkov, The Jerusalem Post’s diplomatic correspondent, wrote on Friday that Israel has two potential gestures to offer Russia. The first is to serve as a go-between for Moscow and Washington. Russia’s defense establishment has apparently pressed Israel for some time now to help it get America to take a more conciliatory approach, especially on the matter of sanctions, but without great success.

The second gesture has to do with ownership of land that the Ottoman Empire chartered to the Russian Orthodox Church in the 19th century. Russia already received part-ownership of Sergei’s Courtyard which takes up nine acres within the Russian Compound in central Jerusalem but it wants more and that is something that Netanyahu could potentially offer Putin when he is here at the end of January.

Hopefully Putin will bring Issachar with him when he comes to Israel next month. Either way though, and no matter what it is that Putin wants, the world needs to know what the Russian president is engaging in blackmail and is holding a young woman hostage.

Israel needs to make it clear to Russia this will not be tolerated, even at the expense of a full-fledged crisis with the Kremlin.

Israeli lives are not up for grabs.