Russian press calls for retaliation: We can’t forgive israel for downing the IL-20 and killing Russians

Saturday 22 September 2018

Russian press calls for retaliation: We can’t forgive israel for downing the IL-20 and killing Russians

THE SAKER – “The blame for the downing of the Russian plane and the deaths of its crew members lies completely on the Israeli side,” Minister Shoigu said.

The reckless audacity of Israel’s behavior in the Middle East, sooner or later had to lead to tragic consequences. And they finally came: from the provocation of Israel’s Air Force, a Syrian missile hit our Il-20 recon aircraft, killing fifteen Russians.

Do you remember the story with Gilad Shalit? He was a corporal of the Israel Defense Forces who on 25 June 2006, was captured by Hamas. To save their own soldier, the IDF started a military operation called Summer Rains. After the operation and other efforts did not succeed, after 5 years and 4 months, Israel exchanged Shalit for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

So this is to the question of how the state of Israel values lives of its soldiers. Now let’s return to the current events and the words of the Minster of Defense Sergei Shoigu about the actions of Israel, that caused deaths of fifteen our military servicemen.

(captioned by Leo – Press CC for English captions.)

“The blame for the downing of the Russian plane and the deaths of its crew members lies completely on the Israeli side,” Minister Shoigu said.

“The command center of the Russian troops were only informed with 1 minute left before the airstrikes by the Israeli F-16s began,” he mentioned.

“The actions of the Israeli military were not in keeping with the spirit of the Russian-Israeli partnership, so we reserve the right to respond.” – Minister Shoigu emphasized.

A question arises, if Israel has repeatedly been warned about the danger of such actions, and we have air defense systems in Syria, then why the hell did they not open fire on those who are a threat to Russian aircraft?

No, I understand international relations, a special partnership, and so on, but what kind of partnership is this, in which one side does what it wants, and then puts the other under attack? Do we need such a partnership?

I think you read how the head of Russia reacted to the incident.

“Regarding the response, they will be primarily aimed at additional security for our servicemen and our facilities in the Syrian Arab Republic, which will be such steps that everyone will notice,” Putin said.

It is very sad that our country does not undertake “steps that are noticed by everyone” before any tragedy occurred, but after the fact. Yes, Turkey didn’t just pay with sanctions on its tomatoes for shooting down our fighter jet, Turkey experienced economic pain and decided to be our partner. But, Israel has already been in our corner. At least we used to think that Israel is in our corner. Netanyahu attended the Victory Day parade in Moscow. May 9th in Israel is considered a holiday, and so forth. And now what? Are we going to forgive Israel, who fights for the life of every IDF soldier, for the loss of our fifteen compatriots?

I consider that it would be a demonstration of a weakness. And the weak are attacked. I think that we should take down any of Israel’s military jet, that threatens us even with 1% of probability of the attack. After the first their fighter jet is shot down, we will be faced with their screaming and barking, but what will Tel Aviv do? Declare war on Moscow? It’s ridiculous.

Tel-Aviv either will be trying again and again, or may continue attacks until our next downed plane, or it will give up their attacks immediately. Meaning they won’t be able to set us up again. You cannot let down the lives of Russians to anyone, especially – to such cleverly “partners”. When our people die in terrorists’ attacks, we strike them non-stop until they are destroyed. Enough fidgeting with the Israelis. Otherwise, a similar thing will 100% happen again.

Every Israeli fighter jet approaching dangerously close to our aircraft and bases in this region must be destroyed. The Israelis themselves act exactly this way. And they should inherit that.

P.S. An interview with the distinguished military pilot of Russia, Vladimir Popov, explains how the Israeli F-16 had been hiding literally under the wing of the Russia aircraft.

The Usual Tricks! Israeli Pilots Baited Syrian Missile By Hiding Under Wing of Russian Aircraft

Comment: It’s measure of Putin’s ability to forbear in the face of his own constituency baying for revenge. You can be sure Israel is being forced into many concessions behind the scenes in exchange for that forbearance. The Russian government is playing a long game. A hot war serves no one, friend or foe, no matter how satisfying it might seem to be in the short term

“[W]ith Israel betraying Putin’s forbearance after April’s air strikes on Damascus, he will have no choice but to upgrade Syria’s air defense systems from S-200’s to S-300’s and possibly S-400’s.

This is Israel’s worst nightmare. A situation where any aerial assault on targets within Syria would be suicide missions, puncturing the myth of the Israeli air force’s superiority and shifting the delicate balance of power in Syria decidedly against them.

This is why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked Putin so hard over the last two years. But, this incident wipes that slate clean. This was a cynical betrayal of Putin’s trust and patience. And Israel will now pay the price for their miscalculation.

Giving Syria S-300’s does not avenge the fifteen dead Russian soldiers. Putin will have to respond to that in a more concrete way to appease the hardliners in his government and at home. His patience and seeming passivity are being pushed to their limit politically. This is, after all, a side benefit to all of this for the neoconservative and globalist hawks in D.C., Europe and Tel Aviv.

But, the real loss here for Israel will be Russia instituting a no-fly zone over western Syria. Any less response from Putin will be seized upon by and the situation will escalate from here. So, Putin has to deploy S-300’s here. And once that happens, the real solution to Syria begins in earnest.