Despite the conflict between Russia and Ukraine being geographically distant from the Middle East, it has dire implications for Israel and one rabbi even compares the political situation to that which led to the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. Though the US government has taken a pro-Ukraine stance, a closer look reveals that Israel may not be as neutral as many believe and its best interests may be served by siding with Russia.

The first and most obvious reason is Russia’s substantial military presence in Syria. Russia has given its tacit approval of Israeli airstrikes targeting Iranian military sites. A line of communication was established several set up between Putin and Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2014 to allow Israel to inform Russia of these attacks. Ironically, was established after Russia seized Crimea during the Obama administration. 

It should be noted that in mid-February this year, Israel rejected a Biden administration request to deploy the Iron Dome air defense system in Ukraine. This is ironic as last September, House Democrats tried to remove $1 billion in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome. 

Significantly, the Biden administration has aggressively pursued reinstating the Iran deal, seemingly at any cost, a policy that enables Iranian expansionist policies accomplished through arming proxies (like Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas) that are considered terrorist organizations by US allies. This has alienated these allies including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.  

This compares to an agreement between Russia and Israel in which Russia agreed not to sell arms to Iran in exchange for Israel not selling arms to the Ukraine and Georgia.

It should be remembered that while the US is alienating oil-producing countries and calling for a boycott of Russian energy (all while the Biden administration pursues a policy of cutting back US oil production), Russia is the largest supplier of oil to Israel via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, connecting the Caspian Sea with the Mediterranean, and passing through Georgia and Turkey.

The ties between Israel and Russia have many forms. Israel is a significant tourist destination for Russia. The two countries enjoy visa-free travel between them. Of 3, 25 million tourists to Israel in 2016, 17% were from Russia. Russia’s and Israel’s space agencies work together under a cooperation agreement. Among their joint projects is the development of a high-resolution satellite-based spy camera.

Yandex, the Russian equivalent of Google, established a School of Data Science at Tel Aviv University. The one-year program recruits from computer science graduates and from the cybernetic units of the Israeli Defence Force. The focus is on machine learning and AI.

Any relations between Ukraine and the Jewish state are carried out under the shadow of the Holocaust in which Ukraine played a significant and active role. Between 1941 and 1944, more than a million Jews living in the Soviet Union were murdered by Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution” extermination policies. Most of them were killed in Ukraine because most pre-WWII Soviet Jews lived in the Pale of Settlement, of which Ukraine was the biggest part. About 100,000 Ukrainians joined police units that provided key assistance to the Nazis. Volunteers carried out anti-Jewish manhunts and murder actions. Though many claims of collaboration have been made, the Ukrainian government has never put a single person on trial.

The history of anti-Semitism in Ukraine is long and vicious perhaps due to its large Jewish population. A third of the Jews of Europe previously lived in Ukraine between 1791 and 1917, within the Pale of Settlement. But this made the Jews a visible target and a handy scapegoat. Pogroms have been carried out since the 12th century.

Though the government officially claims that its legacy of anti-Semitism has been reversed, Ukraine has in recent years erected a glut of statues honoring Ukrainian nationalists whose legacies are tainted by their indisputable record as Nazi proxies. 

Far-right groups have also gained political currency in the past decade, none more chilling than Svoboda (formerly the Social-National Party of Ukraine), whose leader claimed the country was controlled by a “Muscovite-Jewish mafia” and whose deputy used an anti-Semitic slur to describe Ukrainian-born Jewish actor Mila Kunis. Svoboda has sent several members to Ukraine’s Parliament, including one who called the Holocaust a “bright period” in human history, according to Foreign Policy.

This is also apparent in the Azov Battalion, founded by an avowed white supremacist who claimed Ukraine’s national purpose was to rid the country of Jews and other inferior races. Azov is now an official member of the Ukraine National Guard. In 2018, the U.S. Congress stipulated that its aid to Ukraine couldn’t be used “to provide arms, training or other assistance to the Azov Battalion.” Nonetheless, recent reports indicate that Azov may have been funded and trained by the US.

It should be noted that in World War II against the Nazis, losses of the Soviet Union from all related causes were about 27,000,000 both civilian and military, although exact figures are disputed. Russians surely remember Ukrainian complicity and react strongly to the current taint of Nazism in Ukraine.

Israel’s complicated relationship with Ukraine was underscored three weeks ago when 141 countries voted in favor of the resolution in the UN General Assembly to reaffirm Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. The resolution demanded that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.” 

In late February, the United States asked Israel to co-sponsor their UN Security Council resolution against Russia. Israel declined.

It is rather poignant that Israel supported Ukraine in the UN, a forum in which Ukraine has not shown support for Israel. In 2016, Ukraine voted in favor of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 which declared Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria to be illegal and rejected Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.

Rabbi Tuly Weisz, the publisher of Israel365 News, compared the current political environment to that which led up to the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE.

“Israel must do what is in Israel’s best interests,” Rabbi Weisz said. “Israel cannot afford to endanger itself by ‘being nice’ while the US is not taking a strong stance to support its allies. Israel will emerge from this strong, no matter what happens. It is all of the other countries that need to be careful and consider their actions. The US is harming itself and harming the world by pushing through the Iran deal which is diminishing America’s power,” Rabbi Weisz said. “

“This situation cannot be disregarded as there are prophetic and Biblical implications to this conflict in Ukraine,” Rabbi Weisz said. “Now, more than ever, Israel needs its Christian allies in the US to stand strong, for your sake as well as ours.”

“This is reminiscent of the destruction of the First Temple,” Rabbi Weisz said. “Israel was stuck in the middle of the unsuccessful effort by the Assyrians to invade Egypt and we bet on the wrong horse,  eventually rebelling against Babylonia by not paying tributes. Neither of them was the good guy but one was strong and the other was weak; one was on the rise and the other was on the decline. But this bad call in the Egyptian-Assyrian conflict led to the destruction of the Temple and the Babylonian Exile.”

“God forbid, we cannot let Israel be destroyed,” Rabbi Weisz concluded.”We have to serve God but that does not mean making a political move because one side is being portrayed as the good guy.”