by Emanuel Shilo, Editor of Besheva, translated by Hillel Fendel
We must not give up on a strong army; international guarantees cannot replace strategic assets; and we may not blink vis-à-vis dictatorial regimes and aggressive rulers. Here's what Israel has to learn from Ukraine's bitter fate.
1. The Russia-Ukraine war is not the type of war that we can just watch passively from the sidelines. This is not the Iran-Iraq war, where we simply wished the best of luck to both sides. Although the Ukrainian nation, like the Russian nation, has a dark history stained with murderous persecution of Jews and anti-Semitism, we know perfectly well this time who is the aggressor and who is the victim. Our natural moral instinct clearly guides us to support peaceful Ukraine. Eight years ago, Russia snatched the Crimean Peninsula from its hands, and now the country's very existence as an independent country is at stake.
This war arouses melancholy thoughts in the hearts of all those who seek world peace. If not long ago we were naïve enough to think that in the 21st century, blood-filled wars take place only in far-off corners between backward, third-world countries, eastern European reality has now come around to slap us in the face. If we thought that the collapse of the Communist regime in the Soviet Union signaled the end of Russian imperialist aggression, Putin and his gang have shown up to remind us that dictatorships come in many forms.
Just like in the days before World War II in the face of Nazi Germany's militarism, once again the weakness of the peace-loving Western nations stands out. "If you want peace, prepare for war," goes the old Latin saying, but it looks as if the European countries have forgotten this simple truth. Over the last few decades they have increasingly reduced their investments into their armies and weaponry. Only now, in light of Putin's cruel war, have they suddenly remembered the importance of being able to defend themselves without relying on the United States to do the work for them.
2. It's not that there were no warning signs of this deterioration in world security. Putin's actions in both the domestic and international arenas, including the near-total abolition of the semi-democratic form of government that Russia had enjoyed over the past 30 years, showed exactly the type of strongman the world was dealing with. His cruelty seen these very days in Ukraine has been well-known for years back at home, making it all the more clear that the West has been almost criminally negligent in not having prepared earlier to prevent Putin from committing further crimes.
The countries of NATO declared that they would go out to war if a NATO country's sovereignty was harmed – specifically leaving out Ukraine, whose aspiration to join NATO has not yet been actualized. This aspiration, in fact, is actually one of the reasons Putin gives to justify his attack. Putin understood correctly that NATO and the West would not fight to defend Ukraine – even though the 1994 Budapest Memorandum obligates the US, England and Russia to preserve Ukrainian sovereignty, in return for Ukraine's cession of its nuclear weapons. Here in Israel we have had plenty of historic precedents of our own showing the worth of such international guarantees – but if someone still needed proof, he received it just now.
3. Although it's patently obvious who the bad guys are and who the good guys are in this war, Israel has no reason to rush and fully join the anti-Russian front.
Israel needs reasonably good relations with Russia in order to wage our defensive war against Iranian aggression against Israel within Syria. It is Russia that enables us to attack Iranian weapon shipments to Syria. The nations of the West have no intention of endangering their soldiers in a military campaign against Russia on Ukrainian soil, and so they cannot demand that Israel clash with Russia and thus endanger its own soldiers and citizens here at home.
Furthermore: The same countries that demand that Israel not suffice with humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but should also provide weapons – they themselves are refraining from levying effective economic sanctions that could have removed Iran's nuclear threat against Israel's existence. And even more: They are also not really punishing China and Russia for their thriving relations with Iran, which enable the Ayatollahs' regime to persevere in attaining atomic weapons.
It's very simple: Israel cannot trust the West to stand by its side – not vis-à-vis the Iranians, nor vis-à-vis the Russians. This is why Israel can simply not afford to clash with Russia, despite our sympathies with the victimized Ukrainians and their courageous Jewish president. The task of maintaining world peace and punishing aggressor nations must be left for strong and large nations such as the U.S., Britain, and France. Israel, on the other hand, a small state surrounded by enemies, absolutely must worry first of all about itself and its citizens. Our support for Ukraine's courageous war effort must be expressed in supplying food and medical aid, absorption of Jewish war refugees, and presenting a clear ethical stand against the Russian aggression – even if in response, Russia announces its non-recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights.
4. The lessons that Israel must learn from this war are very clear: Even in the age of long-range missiles, the threat of land conquest is still extant. Despite the economic burden involved, Israel must continue to maintain a strong land-based army that can respond to any attack upon it.
We must not, under any circumstances, view international guarantees as a substitute for tangible strategic assets. This is why any idea of giving up the Jordan Valley must be removed from the table. Our control of this area is absolutely vital in the face of threats from the eastern front – Jordan and beyond. In order that this idea be, in fact, taken off the table, the Jewish settlement enterprise in the Jordan Valley must be thickened significantly, and the area must come under Israeli sovereignty as soon as possible.
Another conclusion must be the removal from the diplomatic agenda of the concept of a Palestinian state. Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] must be retained in our hands, first of all because of our Torah and our values. But specifically those who believe that the value of "peace" overrides other important values must realize that a dictatorial Palestinian state that advocates the ethos of jihad and terrorist martyrs is exactly what endangers peace in our land.
Just like Russia could have chosen peace and serenity but opted for war instead, the same is true for our Arab neighbors. They continuously wave the banner of terrorism and "resistance" to the Israeli "occupiers," and are not pursuers of peace. The best example of this can be seen in Gaza, which Hamas could have developed into a paradise after Israel's withdrawal in 2005, but chose instead to render it a terrorist entity with large missile arsenals to be used from time to time against Israel.
A strong Israel from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, confident in spirit and sure of its path, with a powerful army and a developed economy, is the best guarantee that what is happening now in Ukraine could never happen here.