1 \ Scoop: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called on Friday night Ukraine’s President Zelensky & asked that his country vote against the UN general assembly resolution to refer the issue of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank to the ICJ, Israeli & Ukrainian officials told me
2 \ Why it matters: In the previous vote at a UN committee several weeks ago Ukraine voted in favour of the resolution which was tabled by the Palestinians, regardless of Israeli requests not to do so
3 \ Ukrainian officials said they voted in favour as a reaction to Israel’s refusal to provide military assistance to Ukraine. Israeli foreign ministry officials were furious and summoned the Ukrainian ambassador for a tough conversation
4 \ A senior Israeli official told me Netanyahu called Zelensky as part of a series of phone calls with leaders of countries that Israel wanted to change their country’s vote and oppose the resolution or at least abstain
5 \ A Ukrainian official said Zelensky told Netanyahu that in return for voting against or abstaining he wants to hear how the new Israeli government is going to change its policy and provide Ukraine with defensive systems against Russian missile and drone attacks
6 \ The Ukrainian official said Netanyahu didn’t commit to anything during the call and said the vote was getting close and that he is ready to discuss Zelensky’s requests in the future
7 \ According to the Ukrainian official Zelensky didn’t like Netanyahu's answer and didn’t agree to vote against the resolution or abstain. Instead he instructed Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN not to attend the vote
8 \ The Ukrainian official said: “The two leaders weren’t satisfied and didn’t get what they wanted. Zelensky decided that we will not attend the vote in order to give a chance to the relationship with Netanyahu"
9 \ A senior Israeli official said that even though Ukraine didn’t vote in favour of the Palestinian resolution, Israel was disappointed that instead of abstaining it decided not to attend the vote
10 \ Netanyahu’s office told me: "Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to president Zelensky, and Ukraine, which voted before in favour of the anti-Israeli resolution, didn’t attend the vote this time. Other than that we will not comment on diplomatic converstions”. END
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