What does Israel owe Ukraine?
By Daniel Greenfield, FPM Mar 15/22>
Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel is not happy. Ambassador Korniychuk has demanded that Israel cut off all business dealings with Russia. Meanwhile Ukraine’s business dealings with Iran rose over 30% and reached nearly $2 billion. Iranian exports to Ukraine increased by 40%.
That means Iran is literally financing Islamic terrorism against Israel. And genocide.
Is Ukraine ready to stop all business dealings with Iran in exchange for Israel ending its business dealings with Russia? Don’t be silly. These demands only go one way.
Ukraine’s President Zelensky has repeatedly invoked the Holocaust in the influence campaign against the Russian invasion of his country. “What is the point of saying ‘never again’ for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar?” he tweeted.
A better question might be why is a country whose people were responsible for much of the killing of Jews at Babi Yar is shamelessly appropriating the Holocaust for its propaganda.
Especially since Ukraine, like Russia, continues to finance the modern genocide of Jews.
During the Holocaust, Ukrainian nationalists participated in large numbers in the massacres of Jews. Including at Babi Yar. Rather than feel any sense of shame for this, Bandera and his thugs, who were responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of Jews, are national heroes and continue to be celebrated in Ukraine. Including by Zelensky.
“Stepan Bandera is a hero for a certain part of Ukrainians, and this is a normal and cool thing. He was one of those who defended the freedom of Ukraine,” Zelensky argued a few years ago.
You can wrap your cause in the Holocaust or celebrate Bandera, but you can’t do both.
“Addressing all the Jews of the world: Don’t you see why this is happening? That is why it is very important that millions of Jews around the world do not remain silent right now,” Zelensky recently demanded in a speech that was helpfully translated into Hebrew by his office.
What is happening in Ukraine is wrong, but it is not genocide. Unlike Nazi Germany and its Ukranian nationalist allies, the Russians are not marching tens of thousands of Ukrainian men, women, and children, stripping them, shooting them, and throwing them into pits. Nor, like Ukraine’s Iranian trading partners, is Russia plotting to drop nuclear bombs on its cities.
Considering the centuries of actual massacres of Jews by Ukrainian national heroes like Bogdan Chmelnitsky, Simon Petlura, and Stepan Bandera, (who have streets and medals named after them) the willingness of Israel to quickly rush aid and provide political support to Ukraine ought to be appreciated. Especially since it’s another wholly one-sided relationship.
Israel voted in support of Ukraine at the UN despite the fact that Ukraine has repeatedly voted against the Jewish State and in support of the terrorists trying to kill Jews.
‘President Zelensky does feel a “special emotion for Israel because his mother is Jewish,” but that feeling has to be reciprocal,” Ambassador Korniychuk was quoted as saying.
Reciprocal? What exactly have Zelensky and Ukraine done for Israel?
Last year, a Ukrainian emissary suggested that if Israel were to provide his country with its defense demands, then it might agree to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
That’s about it.
President Zelensky and Ambassador Korniychuk complain that Israel hasn’t been vocal enough in its opposition to Russia. When Israel was at war, how vocal was Zelensky?
When Israel was last under attack, Zelensky tweeted, “The sky of #Israel is strewn with missiles. Some cities are on fire. There are victims. Many wounded. Many human tragedies. It is impossible to look at all this without grief and sorrow. It is necessary to stop the escalation immediately for the sake of people’s lives.” Passive voice. No specific condemnation.
Instead of showing appreciation for the fact that Israel has gone out on a limb to support a country that is not an ally, but has repeatedly opposed Israel at the UN, and has extensive trade ties to Iran, Korniychuk has escalated his demands and tirades against the Jewish State.
Ambassador Korniychuk has repeatedly berated Israel and Israelis for not doing enough. The latest acts of chutzpah include Korniychuk pushing the Israeli High Court to overrule a decision by the Israeli government on accepting Ukrainian migrants without any quotas, and demanding that the Israeli Knesset convene specifically to listen to a Zelensky speech.
President Zelensky is entitled to make the best possible case for his country. Ukraine is suffering from an invasion that threatens its national existence and it’s understandable that its government is frantically trying to push every possible button to avert that catastrophe.
War propaganda is an exchange of lies. And we have witnessed Putin and Ukraine hurl accusations of Nazism at each other when in reality both sides collaborated with the Nazis. Both sides likewise insist that the other is part of a vast conspiracy and their defeat will lead to WWIII.
The cold hard reality is that both sides are spewing as many crazy lies as they can to win a war.
Two ex-Soviet countries with little going for them except energy resources are using their broken ex-Soviet militaries to fight over who gets the profits from those energy resources.
It’s entirely reasonable to sympathize with the Ukrainians who have been invaded.
The Biden administration has chosen to express that sympathy by making it clear that we will not intervene militarily, but will pile on economic sanctions. That’s a move likely to inflict maximum economic pain on Americans with a minimal military impact on Russia. That’s convenient for Biden who can blame Putin for the disastrous economic situation in America without having to risk American casualties and the domestic political fallout from a war.
Israel’s best bet however is to just stay out of a mess that really does not involve it.
Zelensky happens to be of Jewish descent. A number of close allies of Putin also happen to be Jewish. That’s every bit as significant as the fact that both Trump and Clinton’s children have Jewish spouses. Or that China’s only non-Chinese general was General ‘Two Gun’ Cohen.
It’s possible to admire Zelensky’s doggedness in the face of a massive invasion without bowing to him as a moral authority. He’s a very effective advocate for his country. And, like many people of Jewish descent who participate in antisemitic movements, he’s managed to reconcile the conflict by putting Ukraine first and mobilizing his Jewish ancestry in its defense.
Much as Jewish leftists do with Muslim terrorism, or Jewish sympathizers who join far-right movements, Zelensky has puts his ‘Jewishness’ at the service of antisemites. And, unlike his willingness to embrace personal risk during the conflict, there’s little admirable about that.
Ukraine has no historical claim on Israel’s sympathy. And only liberal Jews with no sense of history who know their great-grandparents came from Ukraine, but don’t know why they got the hell out would think otherwise. And there’s certainly no reciprocal alliance worth mentioning.
Putin’s Russia and Ukraine are both close trading partners of Iran. In addition, Russia supplies weapons and support for Iran. Both repeatedly vote against Israel at the UN. Both have an ugly history when it comes to Jews. They’re not allies or friends, they are at best friends of enemies.
Prime Minister Bennett’s foolish attempts at acting as if he can mediate between Russia and Ukraine have done nothing to help either end the conflict or improve Israel’s image.
When Ukranians were surveyed at the end of last year, 71% said that they did not support either side in the conflict between Israel and Iran. And there’s nothing surprising about that. Different countries with no shared borders, values, or interests don’t have to support each other.
The same is true for Israel in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
@peloni
Maybe it is somewhat of a personal thing – I have never felt right about the DST, I don’t feel good when it is in effect.
I also think that there must be a scientific reason that the standard time was set the way it was although I haven’t researched it.
But the biggest thing that turns me off – to me it shows that the PTB have lost their breaks, their arrogance is becoming sky high, and this always results in some horrible stuff in the end.
It’s like instead of dealing with really serious issues they are trying to figure out what kind of fun stuff they can again force on their subjects.
If you read those Rockefeller Foundation plans, you will see that they don’t even think of us humans as animals or things.
They think of the Earth’s population as a computer programmer thinks of his data base – some records can be changed, some can be deleted, some can be added, the whole data base can be redesigned to suit the needs of the business it serves, or replaced with a whole new data base.
No emotion is involved.
Peloni
“Reader
Why do you find the DST bill troubling? Serious question.”
Look the guy meant it as a joke. By your intervention you are making little of the seriousness of what we face.
I am far more concerned about the politics of this Greenfield article.
I haven’t yet studied the comment section as time is my enemy here, but this hatred of Russia by Greenfield is as bad as it can get. In essence a cover for the Fascist regime in Ukraine.
@Reader
Why do you find the DST bill troubling? Serious question.
The US Senate has just approved the Sunshine Protection Act.
If the House of Representatives approves it, the DST will never change back to the standard time.
Maybe next time the Senate might decide that the Earth is spinning in the wrong direction?
@Ted.
I very much doubt that there would have been “no killing.”Putin’s men would have rounded up all Ukrainians who opposed the annexation. Any Ukrainian in a position of leadership who opposed the annexation would have been shot. Many others would have been placed in concentration camps.
This is what happened to officers and officials of the former South Vietnam government who the Hanoi government succeeded in conquering the south.
IN general, Vietnamese are kinder and gentler people than Russians. If this gangster Putin has his way, the situation will probably be much worse than in was in South Vietnam 1975-86, bad though that was.
Of course all this may still happen if this gangster is allowed to win.
This is from the Dtroit Fee Press (www.freep.com). I agree 100% with the sentiments.
NOTHING!
@Sebastian Zorn Does all vulgar tv comedy have to be vetted for PC? I grew up with Hava Nagila at summer camp, and every other Jewish environment. I am not religious, to me it was a catchy tune that reminded me of my roots, but to the Ukrainians it was a tune everyone knew and could interpret any way. As someone who has always loved opera and studied French, I am outraged that the Ukrainians laughed during Zelensky’s performance of the Habanera from Bizet’s Carmen. Bomb them harder!
Also: I’ve said often, I’m not a fan of Zelensky or Putin. But saying this one or that one is this or that makes it easy for people to be manipulated.
@Ketzel A Shanda fur die Goyim
@Ketel He was playing a Jewish Stepin Fetchit https://www.ajc.com/news/stepin-fetchit-capitalizing-caricature-brought-actor-wealth-woe/K4bUgzMUGZVPeloM1srXbM/
@Ketzel
And if the first of those pieces had happened to be the Ukrainian anthem or some other piece that evokes deep national feeling like a Ukrainian Christian hymn? It was the Jewish equivalent of Step and Fetchit.
@Adam
I admire your tenacity in sticking to your point of view.. Either you are a pacifist and reject all wars or you are ready to accept some wars based on self-defense.at a minimum. The question is for all of us is how mature does the danger have to be before pre-emptive action is justified.. How warm does the water in the pot have to be before the frog has to act. You have one point of view. I have posted many opinions including my own that blame NATO/US. For you it is only a question of decency.
Before the invasion, I took the position that Putin’s demands were reasonable and should be accepted. Were you on the side of no demands were reasonable. Had my view been followed, there would have been no killing.
The piano recital seems harmless. They also performed several other pieces. I’d guess it had more to do with ease of playing and the recognition factor. It was not specifically antisemitic, just a tune everyone knows. BTW, I wonder why the famous Brodsky Synagogue in Kyiv was unguarded when I saw it, while at the same time, every synagogue in Western Europe needed police in front. Is Ukrainian policy re: Israel unique, or just what every other European country does, minus the actual persecution done by Germany and France in J&S? Some people have higher standards for Ukraine than for Western Europe, a much worse enemy. Oh, don’t forget Zelensky’s drag video and lounge lizard act for Dancing with the Stars. Proof of whatever.
As far as I am concerned, Zelenskyy is a great hero, one of the great Jews of this century. His courage and eloquence are both truly outstanding.
As for all of the people who are blaming Ukraine for the terrible sin of being invaded and bombarded by a neighboring country, and Zelensky for the terrible crime of happening to be president of a country that is being invaded. I have lost all respect for them. I am reminded of Joseph Welch’s scolding of Senator Joseph McCarthy at the 1954 McCarthy-Army hearings: “Have you sir, at long last, no sense of decency?”
Also from Arutz Sheva:
From Arutz Sheva:
Exellent analysis by Greenfield. Chutzpah indeed.
I find Zelensky to be a condescending, uncautious, and terribly arrogant man who has served his nation quite poorly in consistently escalating the current crisis with Russia. He was elected as the peace candidate and failed to control the nationalists as the peace treaty, once struck, was violated 80% of the time by his own forces. His Jewish heritage is something that I find unfortunate, as he trades on it without any regard for the burden he has challenged, yes challenged, his Jewish brothers and sisters to accept. He asks that this be done, after he has repeatedly threatened Russia over the past year and acted with a complete sense of self-righteous demagoguery in doing so. Now that the piper must be paid, he sends the bill to other nations to ply him with arms, and to provide safe harbor and protection of his citizens, all the while as he continues to maintain an air of entitlement without the means of preserving his title. Among those whom he tasks with the cost of his contest with Russia is the Jewish State, goading them to accept their fair share in his penalties and to protect foreign nationals from a nation 5Xs the size of Israel, while Israel continues to deal with her own existential threats to which Zelensky has offered no aid, assistance or interest. I find nothing likable, noble or correct in anything he has done as president or is asking of the Jewish State. I truly find him to be a rather despicable little man who is playing a role as if the casualties and destruction were actors and props. Of course, as we have seen, some of them are. Unfortunately, however, many are not. And precious few of them are valued beyond the support they lend towards extending their arrogant leader’s nationalist goals while lending his nation’s interests to grander schemes than he himself can control.
Zelensky pretended to play Hava Nagila with his genitals in a a 2016 comedy skit before a live Ukrainian audience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oua0Puihrkc
Zelensky plays Hava Nagila with his penis on tv in 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oua0Puihrkc
Greenfield always hits the nail on its head. But still the death of children is so compelling
Finally……somebody putting to words exactly how I feel.
Russia, Ukraine……..a pox on both houses.
International “friendship” is a two-way street and we need to stop giving a damn about what the world thinks of us. In almost every respect Bennett is an embarrassment.
Ukraine has never been our ally. During WWII they were top level collaborators to Hitler. Zelinsky is a useful fellow but just that. We do not condone Russia but there are details that must be reviewed. RE Biological ‘research’ labs..
We must help civilians in dire need. With them our thoughts.. Mediating is a political dance only. Russia cannot let anything close to losing happen..
Nuclear war danger. It exists.