Let's start with the obvious: the Russian invasion of Ukraine is wrong and abominable.
Despite all this, the moral commitment of the State of Israel is first and foremost to its fighters.
When morals and interests collide, this is a good opportunity to have a discussion about being able to tell yourself the truth about the nature of war and the nature of history.
I really like to make use of history in an attempt to interpret reality in the present, but precisely during the war in Ukraine, an unusual event in its intensity that takes place before our eyes, a metaphorical black flag must be raised.
The comparisons to World War II are sinful to the complex reality - between those Russians who call on the Jewish Zalansky and his neo-Nazi government, and those who are Ukrainians, who compare Putin to Hitler and the Russian invasion of the Nazi offensive in Operation Barbarossa.
Putin is a brutal dictator - but he is not Hitler, and the Russian claim that they are in a battle against the Nazis is pathetic propaganda.
Take for example the incident of the bombing of the TV tower near the monument in Babi Yar, the site of the murder of hundreds of thousands.
According to Ron Ben-Yishai, Yedioth Ahronoth's envoy to Kiev, the bombing did not hit the place, Pike News.
Despite this, Zalanski leveraged this to mobilize the Jewish world: "What's the point of saying 'never again' for 80 years, if the world is silent about bombing the same site in Babi Yar?".
These comparisons did not remain in Europe, and immigrated to Israel.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tweeted: "We condemn the attack on the Jewish cemetery, near the memorial site marking the Holocaust of the Jews of Kyiv and the murder of the Jewish people in Babi Yar. We call for the sanctity of the site to be preserved and respected."
This was not the first time Torch referred to the Holocaust.
"Israel will be part of the global relief effort for the people of Ukraine," Lapid declared. "We have a moral duty, a historical duty and a value commitment to be part of the effort."
The Ukrainian ambassador to Israel was completely confused, and invented an alternative history: "We believe you all remember World War II, when the Ukrainians helped save Jews."
So we did not get confused.
The Ukrainian people actually cooperated enthusiastically with the Nazis.
The people in whose honor "and their helpers" were invented.
We will spare the cruel descriptions of the behavior of Ukrainians in the Holocaust.
We said, no parents.
But there is no doubt that in the calculator of cosmic karma, if there is one, we have no historical debt to the Ukrainians.
On the contrary, we repay them for good under evil.
The point is, the dark past does not in any way equip Russian aggression, but neither should history be misused.
1999, the end of the first Netanyahu government.
Following the Serb invasion of Kosovo, the US leads NATO (without the UN) in a brutal air strike on Serbia to force it to withdraw. Operation United Force was the first large-scale operation in NATO history.
Israel refused to support the shelling.
Ariel Sharon, then Secretary of State, sent his spokesman to declare: "The situation there is complicated, and we do not want to take a stand. A simplistic matter is to say that one side is good, and the other side is bad" (The New York Times, March 31, 1999).
Sharon understood the consequences.
Beyond the moral debt owed by the Jews to the Serbs who fought heroically against the Nazis, in stark contrast to the Croats and Bosnians "and their aides", Sharon understood that the bombing of Serbia was a dangerous precedent of an international coalition blackmailing another country, so he refused to take part.
A week and a half before the Russian invasion, it seems that from the Israeli angle things are as usual.
The same structured but imaginary split of the government continues.
On the "right" side, bad cop Bennett "makes carpet noises."
Does not mention the Russians by name, does not condemn, does not offer humanitarian aid, or mediate between Russia and Ukraine.
For a moment I thought it was a wise political thought, but on second thought - it's a dangerous hallucination.
Like volunteering to do dental care for the hippopotamus.
From the enlightened and right side of history, Lapid has stabilized.
The left always plays the good cop.
Lapid, with his special connection to the democratic government, joined the global condemnation, and promised to set up a team to examine the possibility of imposing sanctions on Russia.
Everything, of course, is a pose.
Lapid also knows that he is limited and cannot go all the way against the Israeli interest.
He can talk about values until tomorrow, but he too is operating in a complex reality, and all he has left is to release hot air.
There are no Iron Dome shipments to Ukraine, or a ban on landing Russian flights at Ben Gurion Airport. By the way, when it comes to the historical relationship between morality and interests, it is worth mentioning that the Americans joined the Nazi fighting only after the Japanese attacked them at Pearl Harbor. Under the Nazi boots.
This week on the radio, Yariv Oppenheimer compared the Russian occupation to our story.
I was horrified.
This is a particularly dangerous comparison in the progressive Netflix universe, where the underdog always wins built-in sympathy from the global audience that buys tickets in the form of economic sanctions.
At the moment, it seems that the global audience will stay up in the stands, and at most will hang the Ukrainian flag in the window of his house or add it to his name on social media.
The United States is a guarantor for Ukraine's security. But in practice, at the moment, it is not worth much militarily. The Ukrainians were left alone in front of Putin's armored columns.
The West has no ability to subdue a nuclear power.
One of the things I understand from this story is that there is no way to end it in an elegant way.
Putin is determined, even if along the way he will destroy the whole of Ukraine.
It does not seem to me that Putin can be expected to retreat with his tail between his legs.
He could not afford, and therefore also threatened to activate the atom.
The Cuban Missile Crisis looks like a child's play compared to today.
Soldiers and tanks on the ground.
And make no mistake, even if Putin gets off the stage voluntarily or goes the other way, no Russian leader who comes after him, including a villain, will give up his vast nuclear arsenal and power status.
You have to understand it and respect it, and most importantly - you have to learn how to deal with it.
The historical reasons and circumstances that have brought us this far are many and varied.
From all the sides.
For a tango you need two, even for a bloody tango.
Meanwhile - China, the world's largest human rights violator dictatorship, is watching from an amused side.
The West does not fantasize even for a second about imposing sanctions on it.
Like a cat playing with a mouse, China teases Taiwan.
Imagine what would happen if China invaded.
Sanctions?
You laughed.
Where will they get chips from?
If there is a historical lesson, this is the danger of a nuclear Iran.
While the Americans impose sanctions on Russia - in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, a Putin man, leads the agreement with the Iranians /
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us