Yesterday's Jerusalem Post ran a story about a secret visit by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to Russia on Monday. The trip was kept secret. According to the article:
"According to various new reports on Wednesday, Netanyahu - who was reportedly accompanied by Kalifi and Arad on the reported trip - leased a private jet from Merhav, a company owned by Israeli mogul Yossi Maiman, one of the shareholders of Channel 10 and EMG, an Egyptian company supplying gas to the Israel Electric Corp.
This was apparently done to make the trip as discrete as possible, since using an Israel Air Force jet - it was apparently thought - would have raised the suspicions of the Israeli media.
Maiman was reportedly not directly involved in leasing the jet, as this was done through a company he owns."
The timing of this trip is very interesting. As is to be expected, there is a lot of speculation as to what was involved in discussions between the Prime Minister and the Russians. There are currently Russian arms deals to Iran involving anti-aircraft missiles, and we have all heard of the disappearance of the Arctic Sea cargo ship - suspected of carrying Russian made S-300 anti-aircraft missiles bound for Iran - that went missing last month. Once Russian anti-aircraft missiles are in place, attacking Iran's nuclear sites becomes much more complicated.
Any negotiations between Israel and Russia need to be watched carefully--the stability of the Middle East is at stake if Iran goes nuclear and Russia may be helping that occur.
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