The crisis between Israel and Russia over the operation of the Jewish Agency, which is tasked with assisting Jews who want to emigrate to Israel, is not going anywhere. In fact, it may be escalating.

No progress was made at an Aug. 1 meeting in Moscow between the legal delegation sent by Israel and Russian Justice Ministry officials. And what's worse, the Russians seemed to leave no room for any negotiations or litigation. They presented Israel with a stark position: The Jewish Agency had broken Russian law and it must shut down its operations that facilitate the immigration of Russian Jews to Israel.

Israel continues to puzzle over the intentions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but has been unable to come up with a clear answer, especially given his silence on the matter. As far as Israel is concerned, shuttering the Jewish Agency while some 150,000 Jews still live in Russia is almost tantamount to a declaration of war. In fact, diplomatic war would have been declared, at least metaphorically so, were it not for the fact that in this case the enemy is Russia.

Israel is equally puzzled over the thinking of another influential figure who holds significant sway in the Middle East: Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. This is particularly relevant in the context of the US-mediated Israeli-Lebanese negotiations on demarcating the borders of their economic waters. Here, too, Israel is scratching its head, trying to figure out Nasrallah’s game plan. In an interesting convergence, these two identical questions regarding Putin and Nasrallah could well be related.