Europe can condemn Russia while supporting Israel

As a scholar and practitioner of diplomacy, I regularly engage with counterparts whose views differ from mine. I very much value being exposed to contradictory viewpoints and debating both factually and respectfully. In recent weeks, I have heard more than once that many Europeans ask themselves the following question: “How can we justify to the Global South condemning Russia while supporting Israel?” To most Israelis, including myself, this is a jaw-dropping question. But since it is being asked, let me answer it.

I shall start with the question’s least controversial part: the so-called “Global South.” This misleading expression was coined during the Vietnam War by far-left American activist Carl Oglesby, who used typical Marxist terminology to depict an alleged divide between “exploiters” and “exploited.” The “Global South” expression made a comeback in the early 21^st century, and it has progressively imposed itself by way of herd behavior – thus replacing the “Third World” idiom conceived by French geographer Alfred Sauvy in 1952.

The widespread and uncritical adoption of the “Global South” expression has absurd, though at times amusing, consequences. According to the UN Agency for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), North Korea belongs to the “Global South” while South Korea belongs to the “Global North.” China, with a GDP of 18 trillion, the world’s largest navy, and technological leadership from electric cars to 5G, is classified as “Global South.” But Russia, with a GDP of 2 trillion, a dysfunctional army whose supplies depend on North Korea, and a rentier economy that mostly lives off energy exports, is classified as “Global North.”

Besides this list of absurdities (which is longer), there is nothing in common between the right-wing and pro-American governments of Argentina and India, and the left-wing and pro-Russia governments of Chile and Venezuela; or between the anti-Iran thriving economies of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and the Iran-controlled failed states of Syria and Lebanon. The “Global South,” in other words, is a scam.

Now for the real controversy.

Russia is the largest country in the world. It is a violent autocracy and a revanchist empire that tries to retake control of former Soviet republics. Russia also tries to undermine –in cooperation with other autocracies such as China, Iran, and North Korea– the US-led rule-based order that was established after World War Two and that expanded with the end of the Cold War. Russia started the war in Ukraine by aggressing and conquering its neighbor. It knowingly commits war crimes there by intentionally bombarding civilian targets that are not used by the Ukrainian army.

Israel is one of the smallest countries in the world. It is a democracy surrounded by autocracies and by a ring of failed states – Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Gaza – that have been taken over and armed by Iran with the declared purpose of destroying Israel with a coordinated strike. Israel was the one attacked by Hamas on October 7, and it did what every country would have done after such a barbaric attack by using force in self-defense (in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter).

As in every war, the war in Gaza is making civilian victims (the number of victims is unverifiable, and the figures provided by Hamas are unreliable). The armies of NATO made large numbers of civilian victims while fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (the Battles of Mosul and Raqqa in 2016-2017 were especially lethal). Israel must be judged by the same standards applied to other Western democracies, not by higher and unachievable ones. And Israel is taking greater precautions than Western armies in its battle against Jihadists. As explained by US military expert John Spencer: “Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history – above and beyond what international law requires.”

Iran, which aggressed Israel via Hamas on 7 October 2023, and Russia, which aggressed Ukraine on 22 February 2022, are allies. Israel is fighting not only for its survival against Iran’s genocidal program but also for the free world. If Israel and Ukraine fall, the Russia-Iran axis supported by China will declare victory. Taiwan will be next. So will the Baltic States and the rest of Europe. As President Biden said on 19 October 2023: “Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy.”

It is as simple, and as true, as that. So not only can Europe condemn Russia while supporting Israel. It also should.