The Russian incursion of Ukraine has prompted an automatic response in the world by various individuals preaching morality. Choosing the good, in their opinion, comes with sacrifice, and they criticize "immoral" Israel for focusing on its narrow interests. But the real problem is that Israeli interests are characterized by a profound contradiction.
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On the one hand, we fear the Russian bear's presence on our northern border and are concerned with and feel responsible for the safety of the Jews of Ukraine and Russia.
On the other hand, our vital alliance with the United States requires us to stand by it in a global conflict. As the war in Ukraine intensifies, Israel finds it increasingly difficult to maneuver between the two superpowers without hurting itself in the process.
Although we fear the fate of Russian and Ukrainian Jewry – especially given how the two countries have treated their Jewish populations throughout history – Russia's threat posed to Israel by Syria is more serious, potentially curtailing our ability to stand up to Iran, a cruel enemy that has pledged to destroy the Jewish state.
Russia is strong militarily, but vulnerable and isolated economically and it will seek allies, with Iran and China having already offered their assistance. As such, Israel may soon face an even bigger threat from its northeastern border.
Seeing that the US tendency is to abandon countries that cannot defend themselves without help from Washington – Ukraine, for example – we must not expect much in defense aid. Despite countless commitments to Israel's security in recent decades, America is poised to betray us at the Iran nuclear talks and with it, the entire Middle East.
As such, calls on Israel to express its support for Ukraine in a language more definitive than Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's are pathetic and hollow. What existing moral political order is Israel supposed to stand by exactly?
Israel may find itself facing Russia. But it will only to do so if Jerusalem is forced to prioritize its vital interest in the US over other no less important ones, and not because it has chosen what the imaginary international community has deemed "good."
We must pursue world peace, but do so modestly, taking into account the fears that prevail among the nations. Given the current state of affairs, world peace is a distant ideal.
Russia, for example, despite all its military capabilities, is feeling threatened by NATO. European countries are threatened by their superpower neighbor, and are therefore expanding the European Union and the military alliance. These conflicting fears cannot be uprooted by preaching.
Therefore, one should not think that we have reached the ideal world under American hegemony after World War II, and even more so after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Such an illusion could be fatal.
The US is working for its own interests. Hopefully, Israel's fill fit in, although they are not the same. As such, we need to consider the possibility that they will clash, as it happened during the presidencies of Dwight Eisenhower and Barack Obama.
Israel must tread lightly in its pro-Americanism.
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