As the world watched the Russian army roll into Ukraine, the horrific sights left many Israelis with an eerily familiar feeling. Despite lofty rhetoric about human rights and international law from media, politicians, and activists, Ukraine is alone in its fight
for independence, freedom, and national sovereignty. To Israelis, watching Ukraine's brave stand against overwhelming Russian aggression reinforces the most basic premise of Zionism and the State of Israel—Jewish survival depends on Jewish willingness to fight.
In many ways, it is both the best of times and the worst of times for Israel. "The Start-Up Nation" continues to be the envy of countries worldwide. The World Happiness Report recently ranked Israel as the ninth-happiest country—seven spots above the United States.
The birth rate among Israeli Jews, religious and secular, remains high. And Israel has forged new ties with Arab countries based on mutual recognition of common Abrahamic descent.
Atthe same time, Israel's security situation is precarious. Deep down, many Israelis have a lingering fear—could we be overwhelmed by neighbors who want to harm us? Would anybody be willing to stand with us should that day come?
Israel has fought four wars with the internationally-designated terrorist organization Hamas over the past decade, the most recent of which occurred in May 2021. They fired thousands of missiles upon Israeli cities, forcing millions of Israelis into bomb shelters.
On the ground, tens of thousands of Israel's Arab citizens engaged in violent riots that targeted Jewish homes and businesses, and carried out several lynchings on innocent passersby.
In the failed state of Lebanon to the north, Hassan Nasrallah—the leader of the terrorist group Hizbullah—boasts that his organization has enough rockets to hit every city and target in Israel. Hizbullah has even promised that in the next war, its commandos will conquer Israeli villages in the Galilee and slaughter its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Israel's arch-foe Iran openly threatens Israel's destruction and continues its quest for nuclear weapons. Making the situation even more precarious for Israelis, the US is considering removing Iran's Revolutionary Guards from its terror watch list despite it having destabilized and destroyed the Middle Eastern states of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.
And yet, as Israelis stare down imminent threats from every direction, pro-Palestinian activists and their allies promote a false equivalency between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s relationship with the Palestinians. Reality is very different.
Like Ukraine, Israel's legitimacy as a nation is constantly undermined and questioned by its enemies. Propagandists regularly deny Jewish indigeneity, history, and presence in the region, calling us foreign settlers who are destined to be forced out despite Israel’s
repeated offers to forgo its rights to the territories in exchange for a peaceful end to the conflict. So, Putin's claim that Ukraine has no legitimate identity is a familiar script to Jews who understand that these false equivalencies are motivated by a desire to manipulate public opinion through a campaign of disinformation.
Here’s the undeniable truth. Russia's assault on Ukraine has produced ten times more refugees than in the 70-year conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Ukrainians have never strapped themselves with explosives and blown up innocent Russians in buses and cafes. Residents of Kharkiv have not launched a slew of rockets at their Russian neighbors over the past two decades. It is Israelis, not the Palestinians, who continue to face threats to their existence, as well as continual denial of their legitimacy and history.
Of course, this is not a mystery to Jews. Since the beginning of the Zionist movement, we’ve known that the survival of the Jewish state and the Jewish people depend almost exclusively on our dedication, strength, and willingness to fight. This is why Israelis
of all walks of life admire Ukraine's fight for survival and identify with the Ukrainians’ motivation to stand up to Russian aggression. Because we know that if the day comes, we too will be abandoned. Still, we will fight, and we will win. That is the promise of the State of Israel.
Russell Shalev is an editor-at-large for the J’accuse Coalition for Justice. The views expressed are the author’s own.
