Israel Sees Communication as Key to Avoid Air Battles With Russia

DM: No Need to Shoot Down Planes Over Some Kind of Mistake

With Russo-Turkish relations still reeling from last week’s Turkish shoot down of a Russian bomber, the Israeli military has revealed they had an incident of a Russian plane straying across the border from Syria as well, but resolved it quickly through simple communication.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon noted that a Russian plane entered Israeli airspace by mistake and immediately turned around after it was notified by the Israelis. The two nations have set up a channel for direct communication to “prevent misunderstandings.”

Ya’alon appeared to be taking a shot at Turkey over the matter, noting “Russian planes don’t intend to attack us and therefore there is no need to automatically, even if there is some kind of mistake, shoot them down.” Turkey’s president has ruled out apologizing for destroying the Russian plane.

Israel could find itself an economic beneficiary of the Turkey incident, however, with Russia imposing economic sanctions on Turkey, and looking at both Israel and Iran as possible alternate sources for certain agricultural imports in the region.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.