Today, with my children we attended a protest in Times Square to show solidarity with Ukraine and stand against the horrific actions of Russia under President Vladimir Putin.
Yet, with family in Ukraine, one can’t help but wonder where is the horror of the world? Already 1 million refugees, so many lives lost, so much disrupted. While many stand against Russia, the reality is the fight on the ground has been left to the Ukrainians. It’s a real lesson in the realities of the world – and maybe life. At the end, you are all alone.
As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rightfully tweeted, “To the world: What is the point of saying never again for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar?”
What is the point of saying never again if NATO won’t close the sky because people are dying? Why wont America join in closing the sky? As an adult, I understand there are nuances. Yet, as the grandson of Holocaust survivors I am sure there have always been nuances.
It is not an easy battle. If America closes the sky or intervenes this could be the next world war. Yet, as Ukrainians say the war has already started.
When we ask, “Why wasn’t Auschwitz bombed?” this is also a question of the Allies ignoring the murder of the Jews during the Holocaust. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter handed Elie Wiesel—a survivor of Auschwitz who was then chairman of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust—a copy of the soon-to-be-released aerial photographs of the extermination camp at Auschwitz.
Two months later Wiesel told Carter, the evidence is before us: The world knew and kept silent. The documents that you, Mr. President, handed to the chairman of your Commission on the Holocaust, testify to that effect.” Wiesel repeated that claim to Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
Wiesel was right. Will history ask those of us in the free world why didn’t the sky over Ukraine close? Will history ask where was the world? Where was America when Ukraine was destroyed? Where are the military actions taking out the 40-mile long Russian convoy approaching Kiev? Where are the foreign military forces stopping Russia from targeting civilians? There are no easy answers. Yet, surely everyone can do more.
This isn’t the time for reflections – it’s the time for action, The time for activity. Yes, there are sanctions, and yes there is political pressures, yet the facts remain people are dying, and the West is watching but not doing all they can do. There is so much more that can be done.
Only one week ago Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky refused the United States offer to evacuate him from Kiev, noting “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.”
With that act, Zelensky became a worldwide hero. This Jewish hero forced the world to not fully abandon Ukraine.
His grandfather lost three of his brothers to Nazis, and Zelensky has become in many ways the leader of the free world fighting against evil. This Jewish world leader is teaching action, valiance, heroism in the fight against evil. Yet, much like during the Holocaust his people are largely fighting alone. The skies remain open, and Ukraine is on the front lines fighting alone. As Zelensky told the European Union, “We have a desire to see our children alive. I think it’s a fair one.” He’s right. We have a responsibility to not only stand with Ukraine but fight with Ukraine.
