The Merging of Two Wars
The brief conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky became a genuine media sensation, since the leaders of two countries locked in existential conflicts had not met in three years. The very fact of this absence of contact looks strange, all the more so against reports that the Israeli prime minister’s office had rejected the Ukrainian side’s proposal for a bilateral meeting. But to speak seriously — had it not been for the funeral of American senator Lindsey Graham, who was ready to help both Ukraine and Israel, there would have been no proposal for a meeting, and no such brief contact at all.
The absence of dialogue cannot help but astonish. Ukraine and Israel are, in essence, fighting the same enemy. Of course, when I said this in the first months of 2022, it could provoke a certain skepticism among the Israeli audience. And I understand that even the appearance of Iranian “Shahed” drones in Ukrainian skies may not have changed that skepticism much. But it now seems obvious to me that Iran was not only helping the Russian Federation — it was also testing its own military technology for a future strike on Israel. It seems obvious that the Russian Federation itself regards itself as an ally of Iran and is helping that country in its confrontation with the United States and Israel. Helping not only through diplomatic statements, but with concrete intelligence meant to ease Iranian strikes on the enemy. Donald Trump can afford the luxury of not noticing these obvious things, and even of waving away Ukrainian information on the matter. But can the Israeli prime minister afford to do the same?
Even if we could once speak of two separate wars, to some degree they are now merging. Russia supplies Iran with intelligence, and Ukraine strikes an Iranian tanker in the Caspian Sea. This is no longer two theaters of war, but essentially one, flowing into the other. Ukraine and Israel have one and the same most important ally — the United States — and shared enemies.
So why is there no understanding of this fact in Israel? Fear of Russia? Reluctance to compete with Ukraine for American military aid? An unwillingness to see this new war as part of a global confrontation, rather than as a traditional Middle Eastern conflict? In truth, the very survival of Israel depends on the answer to this question. And of Ukraine, of course, as well. Because if we are able to join forces against our common enemies, we can become far more effective in the future.
