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20 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us NOVEMBER 2023 EDITION New danger for Ukraine: Taking Israel’s side in war against Hamas and Gaza KYIV — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s immediate and forceful support for Israel in its fight against Hamas has imperiled almost a year of concerted efforts by Kyiv to win the support of Arab and Muslim nations in its war against Russia. Zelenskyy’s early statements backing Israel after the surprise attack by Hamas, in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed, helped Ukraine stay in the international spotlight, and placed it firmly on the side of the United States. Zelenskyy’s position also drew attention to the increasingly close relationship between Russia and Iran, which is a main sponsor of Hamas, a sworn enemy of Israel, and also an important supplier of drones and other weapons for Moscow. Hamas and Russia are the “same evil, and the only difference is that there is a terrorist organization that attacked Israel and here is a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a speech to NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly on Oct. 9. But with Israel’s military operation set to enter its fourth week, and Palestinian civilian casualties mounting, the war in Gaza is posing one of the most difficult diplomatic tests for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which at times have provided crucial support to Ukraine, have accused the West of double standards in Gaza, alluding to the broad condemnation of civilian deaths in Ukraine compared with the muted criticism of Israel. Tension with Muslim and Arab nations, however, is just one risk facing Kyiv, which must now also contend with the world’s attention shifting largely to new war in the Middle East, as well as competing demands for U.S. military support at a time when House Republicans just elected a new speaker, Mike Johnson (La.), who has opposed sending additional aid to Ukraine. Some experts noted that Israel had already made clear it was not going to reciprocate with greater support for Ukraine.
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 21 Randa Slim, an expert in peacebuilding at the Middle East Institute, said Israel had no choice but to maintain its relationship with Moscow, in part because of Russia’s control over Syria, and she pointed out that Israel had rejected Zelenskyy’s offer to visit after the Hamas attack. Zelenskyy’s pro-Israel position “did not make sense,” Slim said, adding that many Arab and Muslim countries see more similarities between Israel and Russia — as aggressive military powers — than they do between Israel and Ukraine. “This is where the Arab region is,” she said. “They are not going to accept what Biden says, comparing Russia and Hamas. They are more comparing Russia and Israel as far as death toll and as far as targeting civilians.” Zelenskyy, she said, could win more friends if he was “ready to say what Russia is doing in Ukraine is what Israel is doing in Gaza.” But, she added, “I don’t see Ukraine ready to do that or willing to do that.” Just as Russian President Vladimir Putin initially offered no direct condolences to Israel and no firm rebuke of Hamas, Zelenskyy was slow to speak about the need to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza as Israel stepped up retaliatory airstrikes. When news of the Hamas attack first hit, Zelenskyy and members of his team compared Hamas to Russia, saying Ukrainians had “a special understanding about what is happening” to Israelis. (There are large numbers of Ukrainian and Russian immigrants living in Israel.) Only 10 days later did Zelenskyy indirectly allude to the bombardment of Gaza by calling for the need to protect civilians and for deescalation. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has steered clear of criticizing Israeli strikes, despite the deaths in Gaza of thousands of Palestinian civilians and at least 21 Ukrainian citizens. The foreign ministers of Turkey and Qatar, which have played instrumental roles in negotiating between Ukraine and Russia on issues like prisoner-of-war exchanges and Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports, issued a joint statement alleging Western hypocrisy. “It is not permissible to condemn the killing of civilians in one context and justify it in another,” said Qatar’s Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al- Thani. Turkey’s Hakan Fidan added that the West’s failure to condemn the killings in Gaza “constitutes a very serious double standard.” In an interview with CNN, Queen Rania of Jordan also offered sharp Continued on page 26
