Despite improving relations with Israel, Russia has maintained its support for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the broader Palestinian cause. Few, however, ask why Moscow continues its backing of the Palestinians to the extent it does or how it reconciles this with its new and stronger ties with Israel. By contrast, US-Israeli relations attract far more media attention to the point of wondering whether the Barack Obama administration — apparently no longer willing to conceal its well-known disdain for Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu — would actually veto a UN Security Council resolution sought by the Palestinians should they force the issue of recognition of Palestine.

In recent years, Moscow has considerably improved relations with Israel. Bilateral trade more than doubled between 2009 and 2013, to more than $3.5 billion, and like Turkey, Israel appears set to increase food exports to Russia after Moscow cut off US and European exporters in retaliation for Western financial sector sanctions. For perspective, in 2013 UN statistics put Russia’s trade with Egypt at close to $3 billion and with the PA at slightly less than $1 million. Russian-speaking Israelis and large tourist flows from Russia to Israel have established strong cultural and people-to-people contacts. Of course, Israel’s Russian-speaking foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman, maintains close and regular diplomatic contacts with Russia.

More fundamentally, Russia and Israel have similar (though not identical) perspectives on stability in the Middle East, an issue on which their governments may be closer in their instincts than either is to the United States. Put simply, when it comes to the uncertainties of democracy, Israel and Russia often appear to prefer strong regimes that can maintain order and do whatever it takes to control extremism. This likely derives in no small part from their shared experience with long-term domestic terrorism — 20 years for Russia and much longer for Israel. Each is itself prepared to do whatever it takes to halt terrorism, including at the expense of civil liberties. In international affairs, similar perspectives on issues like this can form the basis for close strategic partnerships.

Despite its relations with Israel, Moscow has maintained close ties to the PA, often offering diplomatic and rhetorical support for its positions. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow in June 2014, and the two also had encounters in January 2014, March 2013 and January 2012. According to government broadcaster Voice of Russia, since 2005 Abbas has visited Russia 10 times, an average of about one trip per year. Russia has also pursued contacts with Hamas officials, apparently to the extent that Putin offered to mediate between Israel and Hamas during a telephone conversation with Netanyahu in late July during the war in Gaza.