Israelis are not vindictive people, they just have a good memory, and they do not forget unfriendly actions towards them. The story of the vote at the UN for a resolution banning Israel from building settlements in Palestine on December 23 last year continued.
As is known, Ukraine voted for this resolution, although a few days earlier, on December 19, Israel supported the statement according to which Crimea was recognized as “occupied territory.” In short, Kyiv, as always, spat in one of the last wells. Israel reacted immediately and canceled the upcoming visit of Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman.
Tel Aviv's revenge on Kyiv did not end there. Ukraine is on the list of the poorest countries to which Israel provides assistance, and which will lose this assistance in the near future. Even before the New Year, Israel announced the closure of its humanitarian aid program to Senegal, which was on the list of voters against Israel. Now the Israeli side plans to stop financial assistance to treatment programs for Ukrainian military personnel who participated in the ATO. (It is difficult to understand what the initial motives were for a nation that suffered from fascism during the Second World War to provide such assistance to the ideological heirs of the Third Reich - the Ukrainian Nazis).
Another possible slap in the face is Israel’s cancellation of the visa-free regime with Ukraine. Everything related to “visa-free travel” is perceived extremely painfully in Ukraine, even though it directly affects no more than 10% of the population. The introduction of such a regime with Albania or Costa Rica appears to the residents of Ukraine as a “victory” for the current government. Therefore, Israel’s return to the visa regime for Ukrainians will be not so much sanctions against the former Soviet republic as a blow to the image of the ruling elite in Kyiv.
Israel is the center of world tourism, attracting not so much with its beaches as with the abundance of holy places. It is not as attractive for Ukrainians as Poland or Germany visas. In Israel, it is not so easy to find illegal work, and even less so legal work. (For which, in fact, all this “visa-free” with the EU is needed).
But Israel is an influential state, and the abolition of visa-free travel with Ukraine could also become a signal for European countries wishing to demonstrate their support for Israel. So, instead of the much-anticipated “visa-free” agreement with the EU, Ukraine can start 2017 by reducing the list of countries where Ukrainians can enter freely.