Zachary Baumel, an Israeli soldier, was killed in 1982 in Lebanon, but his remains were returned to Israel only this year, 37 years later, with Russia's assistance. At the widely covered funeral for Baumel on April 4, days before elections for the 21st Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had himself gone to the trouble of ensuring the return of the army boots and jumpsuit worn by Baumel along with his remains, which were discovered in Syria.

Two months later, in June, Putin dispatched national security adviser Nikolai Patrushev to Jerusalem for a rare meeting with his American and Israeli counterparts, John Bolton (since fired) and Meir Ben-Shabbat, respectively. The Prime Minister’s Office reported at the time that their discussion focused on Iran, Syria and other regional issues. Speaking on the occasion, Netanyahu thanked Putin and President Donald Trump for agreeing to the “security summit,” and further remarked, “I deeply value the strong relationships that Israel has with both leaders and both countries.”

The high-level Russian official, however, proceeded to throw cold water on the prime minister’s enthusiastic description of his special relationship with Putin. Taking the opportunity at a photo-op with Netanyahu, Patrushev told reporters that Israeli airstrikes against Iranian military targets in Syria were “unwelcome,” adding, “We need to alleviate the concerns of Israel by non-military means.” As for Iran, Patrushev praised the regime for “contributing a lot to the fight against terrorism in Syria,” calling Tehran a “Russian ally.” But who remembers his words? What was seared into the minds of Israeli voters were the giant election campaign billboards depicting Netanyahu with Trump and with Putin.

It turns out that the “strong relationships” with both leaders are not sufficiently strong to deal with the case of Naama Issachar, a young Israeli American arrested in April at the Moscow airport en route from India to Israel. On Oct. 11, a Russian court sentenced Issachar to seven and a half years in prison after she admitted to possession of 9.5 grams of hash for personal use. Moscow is reportedly conditioning Issachar’s release on the extradition to Russia of Aleksey Burkov, a hacker jailed in Israel, instead of his being extradited to the United States, where Burkov is wanted on suspicion of massive online fraud.