By Alex Gordon
HAIFA, Israel — In political statements and commentary, the expression “on the right side of history” often appears. The politician or commentator puts his worldview and his actions “on the right side of history,” and his opponent’s opinions and policies on its ” wrong side.” Often statements about the right side of history serve not as history, but as propaganda.
Rather, the Jewish people have always stood on the wrong side of history, as they were to be removed from history, wiped off the face of the earth. The English historian Arnold Toynbee called the Jews a historical “fossil,” not a dead nation, but also not a living one. Claims of intent to destroy Israel continue throughout the history of the Jewish state. Ukrainian officials put Israel on the “wrong side of history” for refusing to supply their country with lethal weapons: “The refusal of Israeli officials to provide Ukraine with air defense systems at a time when our country’s critical civilian infrastructure is being attacked by Iranian kamikaze drones is causing great disappointment in Ukrainian society,” said Mikhail Podolyak, advisor to the Ukrainian presidential office head, on the Israeli radio station CAN Reshet Bet. “Israel has chosen the wrong side of history.”
Why does Israel have to support Ukraine at all? Let’s take a look at the history of Ukraine’s support for Israel. UN Watch, an organization that monitors UN votes, estimates that from 2015 to 2022, Ukraine has never voted in favor of Israel, voted against it 95 times (78%), and abstained 27 times (22%). Israel has supported resolutions condemning Russia for its aggression against Ukraine three times. In the same year, Ukraine refused to join the 22 countries that condemned the conclusions of the anti-Israel Pillay Commission.
On October 28, 2022, Ukraine supported the anti-Israel resolution on “The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East,” proposed by several Arab countries and adopted by the UN General Assembly. The goal of the countries that initiated this resolution is to deprive Israel of nuclear protection from its enemies. This is an enemy resolution for Israel. Ukraine, suffering from Russian aggression due to its renunciation of nuclear weapons, is taking this anti-Israeli step at a time when it needs Israeli support. If Israel signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it risks being out of history, not being on either side of history, that is, it could disappear from the face of the earth thanks to the hostile intentions of its enemies, which Ukraine has joined.
Ukraine has been fighting a war of independence for eight years. Israel has been fighting for existence since its formation, 74 years. During Israel’s existence, Ukraine has not been an ally in this struggle. On September 23 in an interview to the French TV5Monde, Ukrainian President Zelensky said: “I do not understand what has become of Israel, I am shocked. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t give us air defense. Israel hasn’t supplied us with anything, zero.” Israel’s air defense system is necessary for the country to defend itself against its many enemies. Israel is not a major arms dealer like the U.S. and France. The air defense system is needed by Israel itself on all its borders, and not only on its borders, but also to defend itself against Iran.
The Jewish state maintains solidarity with Jewish communities in the Diaspora. In particular, it cannot provide military aid to Ukraine, risking the safety and well-being of Russian Jews, who could be held hostage and “punished” for Israel’s aid to Ukraine.
To use the term “on the right side of history,” Israel must be on the right side of Jewish history, that is, the interests of Jews and Israel must be safeguarded over the considerations of being “on the right side of history.”
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Alex Gordon is a native of Kiev, Ukraine, and graduate of the Kiev State University and Haifa Technion (Doctor of Science, 1984). Immigrated to Israel in 1979. Full Professor (Emeritus) of Physics in the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Haifa and at Oranim, the Academic College of Education. Author of 9 books and about 600 articles in paper and online, was published in 79 journals in 14 countries in Russian, Hebrew, English, French, and German.