You might have a hard time remembering the last time the US and Israel joined Russia, North Korea, Sudan and Nicaragua in a UN General Assembly vote. For good reason: It has never happened.
Until now, that is. The UN resolution that brought about the unlikely alliance was a Ukrainian-proposed affirmation of its territorial integrity and condemnation of Russia’s invasion of the country three years ago.
Despite eight other nay-voters joining those above, the resolution easily passed. It garnered the support of 95 countries, including Britain, France and Canada; there were 65 abstentions.
The US thumbs-down on the resolution was in keeping with President Trump’s approach to the war, which focuses blame on Ukraine, the country that was invaded. Speaking at his Florida residence, the president addressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a distance, telling him that “You should have never started [the war].” He also called Mr. Zelenskyy “a dictator,” echoing the Russian rhetorical line. And on Friday, he and Vice President Vance berated the Ukrainian leader in an Oval Office meeting on live television.
Chagrin over the American vote on the resolution was not limited to those on the left. Columnist Bret Stephens, a staunch conservative (and former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post), called it “the single most shameful vote ever cast by the United States at the United Nations…a choice that will haunt, and shame, America for years.”
Republican Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska expressed consternation, too, writing that “The vast majority of Americans stand up for independence, freedom…and against the bully and invader.”
But international relations is a complicated affair, to understate things. Sometimes what might seem right is, under the circumstances, wrong, and vice-versa. Thus, defenders of the administration’s seeming about-face on Ukraine contend that the apparent overture to Russia is simply a concession to reality—namely, that holding Moscow responsible for its invasion of Ukraine will only postpone the first priority: ending the war.
Throwing the bear a steak, in other words, is the only way of accomplishing the ultimate goal: a deal with the ursine erstwhile adversary.
Similarly, Israel’s joining the US in voting no on the Ukrainian resolution, it can be argued, was pure realpolitik, a necessary if discomfiting choice, and does not reflect the Israeli ideological position (and fact), that Russia is entirely at fault for the war’s toll on human life (estimated in the hundreds of thousands).
An unnamed Israeli official told the news site Jewish Insider that “There was a lot of pressure from the US” to vote no on the resolution holding Russia to blame and supporting Ukrainian territorial integrity. “They really insisted,” he confided. “It came at all levels, at the UN, in Washington and in Israel.”
The Trump administration has been a stalwart defender of Israel, something neither Israel nor her supporters want to see jeopardized in any way. And so, it would have been foolhardy for Israel to not heed the US’… suggestion.
At the same time, though, the fact of that suggestion is a reminder that Israel, for all her independence, weaponry and bravado, has few friends on the international scene, and dares not risk disappointing its most important ally.
In fact, although Israel declared its support for Kyiv at the start of the war and sent humanitarian aid, including the first field hospital in Ukraine, it refrained from sending the beleaguered country military aid. That was because Prime Minister Netanyahu needed, and needs, to communicate and coordinate with Moscow about bombing important targets in Syria.
So goes the delicate dance of navigating international relations. And, despite the desire we Jews feel to embrace a country or leader as a truly reliable friend, we do well to remember that there may not be any such thing.
Political hishtadlus is certainly proper. But the more we turn away from the political and partisan, and toward the spiritual—the truth that Chazal revealed long ago, recorded in the final mishnah of Sotah, that “Upon whom is there for us to rely? Only upon our Father in heaven”—the more we will merit true protection, from its ultimate Source.
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