Nathan Sharansky, a prisoner of Zion and former deputy prime minister, is convinced that Israel was wrong when it tried to remain neutral in relation to the parties in the war in Ukraine.
"Of course we have interests vis-à-vis Russia and Ukraine, but it should have been said from day one that the Russian attack and the unjustified harm to the civilian population are unacceptable."
Not only moral consideration should have led to the adoption of a sharper approach, Sharansky explains.
The political calculation also supports it: Ukraine would play an important role in the global balance of power, and it would have been better for Israel to remember our standing to the right and the assistance we provided to it in times of need.
"How can it be that the Ukrainians are begging us to transfer them to a field hospital, Israel is scattering promises for an entire week, and in the end the finance minister claims he has no funding?" Sharansky wondered.
He recalled how he acted as a minister in Netanyahu's first government, thwarting the supply of equipment for Iran's Russian and Ukrainian nuclear industry.
"Russia then refused to listen to the Israeli persuasion, while in Ukraine we managed to convince the then president, Kuchma, not to fulfill the commitment to the Iranians and not to sell them turbines for a nuclear power plant," Sharansky says.
Sharansky blames the Americans, and first and foremost the Obama administration, for learning to blackmail the world, and Israel in particular: "Because of Obama and the West's weakness, Russia has taken over the keys to Syria, and the Iranians have won billions of dollars. The West's basic weakness is obvious. All: He's afraid of confronting Putin. Recently, he even raised the bar and began to implicitly threaten with nuclear weapons, and what was the West's response? "The tension. In Putin's eyes, it's a sign of weakness. I learned in the Soviet prison who takes over a cell. Not the strongest, but the one who is ready to hit another, and even kill him at any moment.
Jerusalem City Walls, Photo: Oren-Ben-Hakon
Did the West learn anything from these mistakes?
"Two factors have awakened the free world from its coma: Ukraine's heroism - and Putin's barbarism. The systematic and cruel way in which it erases entire cities in the heart of Europe is shocking. The man who likes to claim that there is no Ukrainian nation The world. Equally important, Putin has inflicted a huge blow on Russia, and its place as a powerful nation sitting between East and West. It will take Russia a long time, perhaps hundreds of years, to regain its moral validity and place in human civilization.
"The maturity of the Ukrainians to fight for their freedom has surprised both Putin and the heads of Western nations. The sanctions on Russia are not enough to respond to Putin's challenge, but they nevertheless reflect the unprecedented identification of the free world with a nation fighting evil. The question is whether the West will stick to sanctions It will remain the same for a long time. "
How do you evaluate Israeli operations so far?
"I very much hope that Bennett knows something I do not know, and that he plays a positive role. Otherwise, if it is only his public relations and an attempt to equal Netanyahu as 'someone who can talk to Putin,' Israel will pay a heavy political price. As for immigration, we must take advantage of The opportunity that came our way to bring to Israel hundreds of thousands of those entitled to the Law of Return. "Special."
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