Israel is the one country that has maintained reasonable relations with both Ukraine and Russia, as Prime Minister Bennett showed when he went to see Putin in Moscow, at the beginning of March, to try to arrange talks between Russia and Ukraine. Natan Sharansky describes Israel’s unique dilemma, as it tries to balance its support, as a moral matter, for Ukraine, with its need to keep Russia willing to let Israeli planes fly unchallenged through the skies of Syria. His observations are here: “Israel, Russia and the U.S. Moral Abdication,” by Natan Sharansky, Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2022
Israel had no choice but to reach a strategic agreement with Russia to fight against Iran and its proxies. In protecting itself from terrorist aggression, Israel must consider Russia’s presence in Syria and secure Mr. Putin’s agreement for airstrikes against targets there. This arrangement, which began under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, renders Israel dependent on Russia’s goodwill even now, during Mr. Putin’s worst aggressions to date.
Making matters worse, an imminent nuclear deal with Iran will give yet more money to the regime without any linkage to its behavior. As a result, Israel will become even more dependent on Russia.
The disastrous deal that Robert Malley has helped to craft in Vienna will provide Iran with both tens of billions of dollars in unfrozen assets, and the ability to again sell its oil and gas. Estimates of Iran’s revenues from oil and gas sales are in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually. And some of that money will go to Iran’s building of more precision-guided missiles either at its bases at home, or at those it has built in Syria, before being shipped through Syria for delivery to Hezbollah in Lebanon. That means Israeli planes will have to be more active in Syria, hitting those Iranian and Hezbollah bases where those missiles are kept before being transferred. Israel will thus become more dependent on Russian permission to conduct, unhindered, its bombing campaign In Syria.
Israel would not have been forced to choose between its principles and survival had it not been for the lack of moral clarity in Europe and the U.S. The same free world that now stands in solidarity against one dictator is on the verge of signing—with that very dictator—an agreement that would give hundreds of billions of dollars to another corrupt, oppressive regime that has vowed to destroy Israel.
Had the West stood firm against Iran, and not entered into negotiations with the Islamic Republic, but continued with its regime of sanctions, Iran’s economy, with the riyal having already lost 90% of its value in the last two years, would have collapsed. Rob Malley has saved the day for the Supreme Leader, plucking victory for him from the jaws of defeat; those crippling sanctions are about to be removed by the Americans without any reciprocal promise by Iran.
Israel needs Putin to continue to allow Israeli planes the freedom to bomb Iranian and Hezbollah bases In Syria, where precision-guided missiles are assembled, or brought from Iran, for delivery to Hezbollah. Israel has to walk a fine line. It has, however, gone very far to show where its sympathies lie. Israel is not neutral. Israel not only voted for the resolution condemning Israel at the U.N, but managed – at the request of the Americans — to persuade the U.A.E. to do likewise. Israel had in the first week of the war already sent 100 tons of humanitarian aid — tents, blankets, medical supplies, water purification systems, winter clothing, sleeping bags, and other items. It has transferred six giant electric generators to a Lviv hospital “that will allow continuous operation even without a power supply.” It is building a field hospital to be staffed by 80 Israeli medical personnel from Sheba Hospital. It has given more such non-military ai than any European country. But what Israel cannot do is send weaponry to Ukraine which, Israel fears, would trigger a policy change in Syria; Israeli planes would no longer enjoy the freedom of the skies over Syria that, until now, Putin has permitted.
It isn’t too late to change this state of affairs. One option is to table the latest Iranian nuclear agreement and instead make clear to Tehran’s theocrats that their aggressions won’t be tolerated, let alone rewarded. If a deal is inevitable, another solution is to tie financial support for Iran to the latter’s verifiable commitment to protect human rights at home and cease its terrorist incitement abroad. This simple solution, which both the Obama and Biden administrations have thus far refused to accept, would not only reflect moral clarity, it would undermine Mr. Putin’s growing power on the world stage.
I take issue with Sharansky’s remark about Putin’s “growing power on the world stage.” I think his power diminishes every day. Putin expected that the Russian tanks would roll into Ukraine, and Russian soldiers be greeted as “liberators” by the Ukrainians, who would strew their tanks with flowers, and within a week, the Russians would have conquered the whole country. It hasn’t turned out that way. Instead, a 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks is stalled outside Kyiv. Ukrainian snipers are picking off soldiers, including at least two Russian generals. The Ukrainians are using their Javelin anti-tank missiles to good effect. Roads and cities throughout Ukraine are littered with destroyed tanks. At least 10,000 Russian soldiers are reported to have been killed. And two weeks into the fighting, not a single Russian has yet entered the capital city of Kyiv.
Putin has already lost this war. He has united the entire civilized world against him. This war will go on for a long time. Meanwhile, Putin is losing support at home, where the truth about the war is being spread on social media, despite Moscow’s censorship. The oligarchs are becoming alarmed, as their luxury villas abroad, their yachts and private planes, are being seized. Their children are being asked to leave the universities they attend In the West. The ruble has cratered; it is now worth only three-quarters of a cent, a historic low. The Russian stock market has collapsed. Protests against Putin are increasing. Even were Putin to conquer all of Ukraine, a huge resistance movement, in a country of 44 million, would continue to attack Russian soldiers, the Ukrainians being constantly resupplied with weapons smuggled in from the West. This army of occupation will have its hands full. But Putin doesn’t think he can do otherwise; were he to pull out, he knows that such an enormous defeat would bring his rule to an end.
Russia’s actions in Ukraine are a test for the free world, which is why my government’s reluctance to oppose them forcefully is disappointing. Yet the reality of Israel’s dependence on Russia shows again that if the U.S. wants to lead the free world in confronting tyranny, its actions in confronting tyrants must be clear and consistent.
Sharansky calls Israel’s response to the Russia invasion of Ukraine “disappointing,” while earlier in his piece, he appeared to recognize the dilemma Israel faced: should it denounce Putin and risk the loss of the IAF’s freedom to bomb targets In Syria, or should it remain silent so as not to anger him? Israel made a solomonic decision. It voted “yes” at the U.N. on the General Assembly resolution condemning Putin. Israel not only made statements In support of the Ukrainians, but also sent them 100 tons of humanitarian aid, including medical supplies, tents, blankets, winter clothing shoes, sleeping bags, water purification systems. It also supplied six enormous generators to the hospital In Lviv. Finally, it has just set up an entire field hospital, which will contain 80 medical personnel inside Ukraine, which will be ready by mid-March. The field hospital will include an emergency room, a maternity ward, a children’s ward, adult wards, an outpatient clinic and a telehealth center. Its location is likely to be near Lviv. Even If Israel has chosen, for obvious reasons, not to send weapons to Ukraine, it has done everything else it possibly can to help the Ukrainians, especially the women, the children, and the wounded, both soldiers and civilians.
In humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel has done more than any country except the U.S. It voted for the resolution at the General Assembly denouncing Russia, and even convinced the UAE to do the same. But it has a duty to keep its people safe. That means refraining from acts that would so infuriate Putin that he would no longer allow Israeli planes freedom to fly over, and bomb, enemy sites in Syria. That freedom is essential if Israel is to continue to destroy the precision-guided missiles that Iran ceaselessly attempts to transfer to Hezbollah In Lebanon, for use in the next war with Israel.
Israel is doing a great deal – all, or even more than all, it reasonably can be expected to do – for the people of Ukraine. Israel has not been, pace Natan Sharansky, “disappointing” in its response. It has already supplied so much humanitarian aid – more than any other country except the U.S. – with a promise of more to come. And so far Putin has not changed the rules for Israeli planes flying over Syria. Israel sometimes makes mistakes (e.g., the Oslo Accords), but in this case, the Jewish state need not apologize; it has nothing to regret.
