Monday’s Shanda at the UN

The vote by the US and Israel not to condemn Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine undermines decades of US Foreign Policy and the Pillars of Zionism

On Monday, the UN General Assembly voted to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 93 countries voted in favor of the resolution, while 18 countries, including Israel and the United States, opposed it.

Their position supports Vladimir Putin, a tyrant who has poisoned his political opponents, subjugated the Russian people to mass surveillance, and terrorized the people of Ukraine and Georgia. Moreover, their vote aligned with Putin’s authoritarian cronies such as Kim Jong Un, Viktor Orban, Daniel Ortega, Alexander Lukashenko, and Isaias Afwerki  – leaders with human rights records as clean as mud. 

Although the US and Israel remain democracies with free and fair elections, the actions taken by the Trump administration and the Netanyahu coalition have undermined the faith and confidence of their respective democratic institutions. This week’s vote maintains that lack of confidence and undermines the efforts by Israel and its allies to portray itself on the global stage as a bastion of democracy in the Middle East. 

In Israel, the judicial reforms spearheaded by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, intended to weaken the power and independence of the Supreme Court, the only legal check on the legislative branch. In addition, Netanyahu’s current coalition welcomed far-right politicians such as Bezalel Smotrich, a self-described fascist, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, both previously charged with incitement of terror. As for the US, the flood of executive action by President Trump, including attempting to revoke the legality of birthright citizenship, instituting mass layoffs and budget cuts at federal agencies, most notably USAID, and the expansionist rhetoric of US sovereignty in Greenland, Canada, Panama, and Gaza, has upended decades of precedent.  

How can we satisfactorily uphold Israel’s claim to be the only democracy in the Middle East, when its leaders seek to undermine checks and balances, embolden Kahanist sympathizers, and align with a tyrant who has threatened the security of some of Israel’s most coveted allies? How can the US promise security to its European and global allies, if it has threatened to use military force against them and now sides with the man who seeks to restore the Russian Empire?

There are valid concerns that Israel has been subjugated to an unfair and biased treatment at the UN, including the lack of further investigation into UNRWA and its ties to Hamas, and the 17 resolutions that single out Israel compared to the total of 6 on the rest of the world in 2024. Perhaps Israel’s rationale is to always side with the US, given its previous vetoes to a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the Security Council. 

Another reason could be Israel’s delicate relationship with Russia, as it had previously needed to carefully conduct air force operations over Syria’s skies, largely controlled by Moscow. However, the ousting of Assad in December of last year and the subsequent withdrawal of Russian troops and military infrastructure freed up the constraints Israel had on conducting operations. 

Or perhaps, Israeli leadership has a serious case of the Im Kvar Syndrome. The Im Kvar Syndrome, a diagnosis coined by Yossi Klein Halevi to mean “might as well” is now on full display at the UN If they are already accusing us of X, then we might as well, explains Halevi. If the world thus accuses Israel of the worst crimes, then it, as the Im Kvar syndrome manifests, might as well side with the regimes that have also committed the worst crimes. How else could Israel decide to side with Russia, the same country that assisted the Iranian axis of resistance and Basher Al-Assad?

Additionally, it is important to clarify that the positions of both Israel and the United States do not reflect the majority opinion as it relates to Ukraine. In the United States, a recent Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans support Ukraine, with 84% of Democrats, 56% of Independents, and 54% of Republicans having very or mostly favorable views of its sovereignty. In Israel, a survey from the Israeli Democracy Institute one month after Russia’s invasion revealed that 67% of Israelis think Vladimir Putin is mainly responsible for the conflict. 

As such, Monday’s vote at the UN abandons decades of US foreign policy as it relates to Ukraine and its NATO allies, one that will veer European allies away from the US. Just days ago, newly elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Europe needed to seek “independence” from the US. As for Israel, the vote to side with one of the world’s worst tyrants could further isolate it from Western allies in NATO, a detriment to the mission of a Jewish state among the nations.