Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked newly minted Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to pass along messages to Russia in a phone call on Monday, a senior Israeli diplomat told the Times of Israel on Tuesday.
According to the official, Cohen conveyed the messages to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov when they spoke for the first time on Tuesday afternoon.
The diplomatic official did not disclose the content on the American messages were.
Statements by Israel’s Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department following the call made no mention of Russia or the war in Ukraine.
According to the official, the Russians had initiated the phone call with Israel’s top diplomat. The U.S. was aware that Blinken would be speaking to Cohen ahead of his call with Lavrov, the report said.
The Israeli official said Blinken was aware of the scheduled call with Lavrov before he spoke with Cohen on Monday. The Russians had requested the call, the Israeli official told the Times of Israel.
Cohen had mentioned he would be speaking to Lavrov a day earlier, but did not mention a call with Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, which occurred the next day.
According to the Times of Israel, the decision to take the call with Lavrov first was a slight to Ukraine.
In an address after becoming foreign minister, Cohen said Israel would continue to send humanitarian aid to Ukraine would continue, but would “talk less about [the war] in public.”
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham came out against Israel’s neutral stance in the conflict, warning Jerusalem against taking a pro-Moscow direction.
Israel has been cautious about taking sides in the war, and is one of the only western democracies to share strong ties with both Russia and Ukraine. Jerusalem also coordinates all military strikes on Iranian targets in Syria with Moscow.
“The idea that Israel should speak less about Russia’s criminal invasion of Ukraine is a bit unnerving,” Graham said in a tweet.
“I hope Mr. Cohen understands that when he speaks to Russia’s Lavrov, he’s speaking to a representative of a war criminal regime that commits war crimes on an industrial scale every day,” Graham said.
The diplomatic official told the Times of Israel that “when the minister said we would talk less, the intention was Israel’s attempts at mediation, the public nature of which — in his opinion — harmed Israel.”
The report also cited Israeli sources as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be open to mediate if either Ukraine or Russia asked him to.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s efforts at shuttle diplomacy faltered after a few weeks. His successor, Yair Lapid, was far more outspoken against Russia, accusing it of war crimes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in the past hailed his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said prior to being elected that he would consider sending arms to Ukraine.
Putin congratulated Netanyahu on the phone last week.
The Israeli premier then spoke with Zelensky, but would not commit to providing arms.