Opinion | Zalanski's miss: The President of Ukraine made all possible mistakes in his speech Israel today

The great failure of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zlansky came only on the 25th day of the terrible war imposed on his country.

Fortunately for Ukraine, this happened not in an operational decision but in a speech Zalanski delivered to members of the Knesset of Israel through the zoom.

His failure will not decide the fate of the battle against the Russian invaders around Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa, nor will it change the fact that Ukraine is the right side of its heroic stance against Putin's aggression.

It is puzzling, however, that an up-to-date and wise head of state, whose rhetorical art is a significant element in his arsenal of tools, did not find an adequate way to appeal to the hearts and minds of Israelis and their elected officials and made all possible mistakes in such a short speech.

The speech of the President of Ukraine missed all the important points.

Instead, we heard the forced parallels between Hitler's 'final solution' to the Jews and Putin's desire to subdue Ukraine and subordinate it to his totalitarian rule.

The parallels were not true, nor were they wise.

Instead of talking about essence, the Jewish president of Ukraine chose to hang on to trifles.

What is important in the coincidence that February 24, the date of the beginning of the Russian invasion of his country, is also the date of the founding of the Nazi party 102 years before?

Even if Putin had chosen a different date for launching bombs and missiles at the heads of innocent Ukrainian citizens, his vile actions would not have become more justified.

Russian President Putin, Photo: AP

Zalanski's parallels were unnecessary and harmful - and mostly unnecessary.

There is no reason to use the tragic history of the Jewish people in the Holocaust to explain that Putin's tyrannical regime is currently committing a terrible crime against a sovereign state.

The mention of the Righteous Among the Nations Ukrainians who saved Jews from the Nazis was accompanied by a bitter taste, since other Ukrainians, even more, who enjoyed cooperating with the Nazis and slaughtering their Jewish neighbors could not be hidden.    

If the Ukrainian president wanted to appeal to Israeli sentiment and point to a resemblance between his people fighting resolutely and courageously for independence against an enemy plotting against the people of Zion, then the obvious and correct comparison would have been made: the Ukrainian struggle against Putin's ruthless aggression against Israeli wars is similar.

Knesset Speaker Levy watches Zalansky speech, Photo: Noam Moskowitz, Knesset Spokeswoman

The heroic defense of Ukrainian citizens of all nationalities (Ukrainians, Russians, Jews and others) against the cruel invader is reminiscent of the Jewish stand against Arab armies in the War of Independence and the ensuing systems.

The Russian statement that there is no right to exist for the Ukrainian state is reminiscent of the Arab insistence on denying the right to exist of the Jewish state, and even the means of the Russians and the Arabs are similar in their cruelty and course of action to deliberately harm the civilian population. 

It is no coincidence that the only demonstrations in favor of the Russian invasion took place in Syria and the Palestinian Authority.

It is no coincidence that sympathy with Putin's actions comes only from Hezbollah and Hamas, and the volunteers and mercenaries to strengthen the Russian army also come from there.

It is no coincidence that the joint Arab list was the only faction whose members demonstratively boycotted Zalanski's speech.

The Ukrainian president missed the opportunity to talk about it.

Hopefully history will not judge him for this as a must.

Were we wrong?

Fixed!

If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us