A Look in the Mirror

If we don’t support Ukraine, how could we expect the West to support us in our struggle with totalitarian Iran?

By Michael Oren

During an appearance on Israeli television in February 2022, I made a lot of enemies. The topic was whether Israel should support Ukraine in resisting the Russian attack, which had just started. Everyone on the panel argued that Israel must not support Ukraine, a country infamous for antisemitism which had always voted against Israel in the United Nations. Moreover, backing Ukraine, they insisted, would provoke the Russian forces stationed in Syria to shoot at Israeli Air Force planes operating against Iranian bases in the country. “Israel must remain strictly neutral,” everyone concluded—everyone except me.

I, by contrast, argued that Israel had to stand by Ukraine, a fellow democracy invaded by a totalitarian ally of Iran. While no one could deny Ukraine’s antisemitic past, I admitted, the country had elected a Jewish president and, among all the former Soviet bloc countries, had the best pro-Israel voting record in the UN. Finally, I predicted that the Russians would not dare shoot at our planes, knowing that we would shoot back and destroy their anti-aircraft systems. “If we don’t support Ukraine, how could we expect the West to support us in our struggle with totalitarian Iran?” I asked, “How would we ever again be able to look at ourselves in the mirror?”

No sooner were these words spoken than the rest of the panel’s participants accused me of endangering our pilots’ lives by backing Ukraine—the country that was absolutely certain to lose the war.

Today, four and a half years later, the war in Ukraine drags on, yet it is far from certain that the Ukrainians will lose. On the contrary, their technological innovations, especially in the field of drone warfare, have brought the war deep into Russia’s territory and population centers. For Israel, meanwhile, there is no longer an Iranian threat from Syria and no danger that the few Russian troops still stationed there will shoot at our planes. The same Russian anti-aircraft batteries the Israelis once feared were handily destroyed by our Air Force in Iran. Most significantly, Ukraine has now taken military action against Iran by attacking Russia-bound Iranian arms shipments in the Caspian Sea. All these changes have taken place yet Israel’s policy toward Ukraine remains largely unchanged.

Israel, today, has virtually nothing to gain from maintaining its neutral policy on Ukraine and everything to gain by supporting them. Ukraine is our natural ally against Iran and can assist us in defending our troops from the threat of Hezbollah drones. Supporting Ukraine will bring our policy closer in line not only with Europe but also, increasingly, with the Trump administration. Supporting Ukraine will enable us, citizens of the democratic and Jewish state of Israel, to look ourselves in the mirror.