Friday, March 04, 2022
Melanie Phillips: For the Jews, history repeats itself in Ukraine
Putin is seeking to reverse the identity of neo-Nazis and their victims by channelling the myth of the Soviet fight against German Nazism. But this too is built on a distortion of history.
After all, the Soviet Union was initially an ally of Nazi Germany through the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. World War Two was launched against Europe in 1939 by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany together.
Subsequently, Russia did mount a heroic defence against Germany which helped win the war. Putin is manipulating this fact to present a staggering inversion of reality to justify his unprovoked aggression and brutality.
Now where have we heard this before, where the victims of an attempt to erase them from the map are themselves accused falsely of genocide?
Well of course, this is precisely what the “Palestinians” have done to Israel. For decades, they have promoted the big lie that they are the indigenous people of the land, that the Jews were the colonisers who deprived them of their rights and that the Israelis continue to oppress and practice “genocide” against them.
Every part of that is not only untrue but it is the “Palestinians” who seek aggressive conquest and the Israelis who are victims of their terror.
This big lie about Israel was created in the 1960s when the “Palestinian” terrorist leader Yasser Arafat made common cause with the Soviet Union to rewrite history, demonise the Jewish state and subvert the west by twisting its collective mind and destroying its moral compass.
This was laid out by General Ion Pacepa, the former head of Romania’s foreign intelligence service, who played a significant role in Soviet bloc operations directed against Israel and the US and who defected to the west in 1978.
According to Pacepa, the chairman of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, told him, “We needed to instil a Nazi-style hatred for the Jews throughout the Islamic world, and to turn this weapon of the emotions into a terrorist bloodbath against Israel and its main supporter, the United States”.
This mind-bending has resulted in Israel’s demonisation in the West. And now the same strategy is being deployed by the former KGB officer Putin towards Ukraine.
In a Hebrew-language post on his Facebook page, Zelensky urged Jewish people around the world to speak up against Russia’s attempt to “erase” Ukrainians, their country and their history.
“I am now addressing all the Jews of the world,” he wrote. “Don’t you see what is happening? That is why it is very important that millions of Jews around the world not remain silent right now.”
Zelensky cried out to the Jews to speak up because he sees history repeating itself in his country. For the Jewish people, wherever they are, history always does.
The Biden Administration is so horrified by a rogue state using its nuclear deterrent to beat up on neighbouring states without fear of Western intervention that it is right now working to recreate the calamity in the Middle East.
— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) March 4, 2022
Caroline Glick: Russia, the virtue-signaling West, and Israel
Russia was willing to accept the possibility of Ukraine as a neutral state, but over the past 15 years, Putin has said repeatedly that he viewed the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO or the EU as a casus belli. The Minsk Protocol from 2014, which Ukraine accepted and the West sponsored, paved the way for Ukraine to become a neutral state. If the US and its allies were acting strategically, they would have urged Zelenskyy to implement the Minsk Protocol, which provided autonomy for the pro-Russian provinces in eastern Ukraine. Instead, as Putin deployed tens of thousands of Russian forces to the Ukrainian border, Biden reportedly gave Zelenskyy the impression that Ukrainian membership in NATO would happen at any time. And now the EU is applauding Zelenskyy's request for EU membership, thus reducing to near zero the prospect that the conflict will be peacefully resolved.The Caroline Glick Show: Ep41 - The Strategic Chessboard in Ukraine | Guests: David Wurmser and Stephen Bryen
Watching the virtue signaling statements by Western leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine, the unmistakable impression is that what we are seeing is not morality-based or strategic policymaking. We are witnessing how a herd makes policy. Herd policymaking involves all parties embracing the same policy because everyone is embracing the same policy. In the current context, everyone agrees Ukraine is a paragon of liberal democracy because everyone agrees that Ukraine is a paragon of liberal democracy. Everyone agrees that Putin is evil and crazy and must be ousted from power because everyone agrees that Putin is evil, crazy and must be ousted from power.
The West's embrace of herd policymaking against Russia is a strategic menace to Israel.
To be sure, Israel is not Russia. And the Palestinians and Iran are not Ukraine. Whereas there is a strong case to be made against Russia and for Ukraine, there is no strategic rationale nor moral justification for the hostility that the EU and the progressive left in the US demonstrate towards Israel. There is no strategic rationale nor moral justification for their support for the Palestinians or for the Iranian regime, who both pledge Israel's destruction.
There is an antisemitic explanation for the West's positions. And there is a policy-by-herd explanation for their positions.
If the West's financial total war against Russia is successful, it is a foregone conclusion that it will rapidly be adopted as a standard operating procedure. There are many leaders in the Western herd who love to try it out on Israel. As a consequence, Israel must be concerned that the next time its enemies start a war against it, those voices in the herd will raise to call to turn their new weapon against the Jewish state.
In Episode 41 Caroline is joined by David Wurmser and Stephen Bryen. They discussed the war in Ukraine in the strategic context of Russian US-NATO rivalry; the Russian-Chinese alliance; and what it bodes for superpower relations with the nations of the Middle East. It was a fantastic, vital, and timely discussion. Don't miss it.
Lessons of Ukraine war already unfolding
Fighting the last millennium's battlesThe Mistake We Made With Russia
At the global level, the situation is just as grim. The civilized world has been caught with its pants down. It had months to prepare for the Russian invasion, to impose sanctions, to threaten a response. But it just looked on at events with a combination of naivety and impotence. It was only after the invasion began that it took action. But it was too late from the Ukrainian perspective and too little for it to have any real influence on Moscow.
NATO, on the other hand, a body that appeared to have lost its way over the past two decades, was energized by events. Not that fighting with Ukraine was ever on the agenda – that would have justified Russian claims that the operation in Ukraine was necessary to prevent NATO's march eastward – but the archaic organization has received a rare opportunity to reshape itself and to restore its deterrence. If that happens then once the sanctions have had time to create a significant effect the pendulum will swing back from the distinct advantage held today by the negative forces in the world, currently led by Russia.
Such a change is critical not only for the United States but also for its allies around the world – and for all countries that desire a free and enlightened world. For that to happen, Russia must bleed, not militarily, but economically. As usual, those that pay the price will be Russia's ordinary citizens, who already live in poverty. Responsibility for this lies squarely with Putin and his cronies, who have left the West with no choice.
Israel has stammered in its response. Its desire for good relations with both Russia and Ukraine is understandable, but it needs to be more attentive to voices coming out of Washington. The decision not to acquiesce to the American request to back the condemnation of Russia at the United Nations Security Council led to not insignificant criticism of Israel in the US.
Jerusalem needs to find a way to rectify this damage. Not only because the United States is Israel's greatest friend and its most reliable backer – diplomatically, militarily, economically, and intelligence–wise – but because the chances are that at some point in the near future we will need the administration. So we need to ensure that it will be attentive and empathetic when that happens.
Not since the end of the 1930s has the world been in the kind of turmoil that it has found itself in over the past month, and particularly the past week. The idea that a European nation-state would invade another European nation-state in a land-grabbing act of aggression was so far off the radar, that the international community is still struggling to come to terms with it.The Binding of Isaac
As recently as a couple of weeks ago, people “in the know” blithely assured us that warnings of an impending Russian invasion of Ukraine were overhyped exaggerations — Putin was just posturing in a cynical bid for concessions from the West.
Well, they were wrong. Over the past few days, untold numbers of Ukrainian civilians have been killed — as well as hundreds of soldiers on both sides — in a war that is both brutal and unnecessary. And although there have been countless military conflicts and wars since the Second World War, none has threatened the world’s equilibrium like this one. And it all happened in such a short space of time; we have barely had a chance to catch our breath as the world has suddenly been caught up in a toxic fusion of Nazi-era and Soviet-era expansionism.
As to what possessed Putin to act so rashly and belligerently — I’ll leave that for diplomatic and military experts, as well as historians, to ponder over in the future. For the moment we are simply forced to accept a reality in which Putin has precipitated an earthquake, and to try and anticipate and mitigate the tsunami that will surely follow.
One immediate outcome of this dreadful war is a European refugee crisis unlike anything seen since the end of the Second World War. According to news reports, Russia’s unremitting bombardment of residential areas in Ukraine has already forced more than one million refugees to flee.
Meanwhile, those left in cities and towns have been forced to shelter underground in basements and metro stations, while others who are unable to leave the country have fled into rural areas to avoid the brunt of mounting military attacks. One such group is Odessa’s Tikvah Jewish orphanage, for over 25 years a bastion of charity and social care for the most vulnerable elements of Odessa’s Jewish community.
I was reeling from the inhuman aggression of the maniacal, “Strangelove” Putin on an independent country causing the deaths of hundreds of children when I thought of the words of Leonard Cohen in “The story of Isaac:”The Shaping of a New Middle East - Episode 15
You who build the altars now
To sacrifice these children
You must not do it anymore
A scheme is not a vision
You never have been tempted
By a demon or a god
He was misusing the story of the Binding of Isaac to condemn the needless aggression of the Vietnamese war. Abraham took Isaac up Mount Moriah, bound him, bodily lifted him on an altar, and raised his hand to kill him because he thought that was what God wanted. What kind of God would ask that? And yet it is a completely false analogy.
It is true that in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam this story is fundamental. But it is interpreted in ways, each reflecting cultural differences. Why, though, is it called a sacrifice when there was none?
Abraham seemed to have been willing to sacrifice his son because he thought that this was what God wanted. In this, perhaps he was simply conforming to a deeply held belief at the time that offering your child to the gods would ensure they were on your side. Just think of Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia to Artemis in the epic of the Trojan War. But the Torah is clear that he was mistaken. As the text says this was not what God wanted. This was a definitive, unmistaken response that God (the Jewish religion) does not want human sacrifice. This is why we call this episode the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, not the sacrifice. It is one of the most recurring motifs in our literature, theology, and liturgy.
The text says explicitly that this was a test. “After these things, God tested Abraham” (Genesis 22:1). We know in advance that this is not to be taken as the will of God. According to tradition Abraham was tested ten times and passed each one (Mishna Avot 5:4). This episode is sending us messages, both about what God really wants, Abraham’s faith, and the limits of faith.
The poetry of the narrative reveals a whole raft of unspoken intentions and responses. Abraham reacts to the call with the word Hineyni, “here I am.” By contrast, the Bible uses the similar word Hin’ni when talking about God’s future responses to human failure and redemption. But the word Hineyni on the other hand is only used by Joseph, Moses, Samuel, and Isaiah when they are uncertain of their mission to play a part in the unfolding of a Divine plan, but ready to accept it, nevertheless.
The Abraham Accords between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain opened the door to a new era of cooperation and friendship. What are the roots? What are the pathways? What does the future hold? Join Russell F. Robinson in conversation with Omar Al Busaidy, CEO of Sharaka, U.S., and hear about this tremendous potential and how it’s unfolding.
David Collier: Electronic Intifada goes full Putin
The Palestinian divisionThe Israel Guys: Should Israel Be Worried By Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine?
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has opened another long forgotten division – which sits at the very foundations of the ‘Palestinian struggle’. Ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the pro-Palestinian movement has embedded itself within mainstream leftist western thought. Time was that this was impossible. The Soviet Union allied with the Arab bloc and then used downtrodden refugees, leftovers from a 1948 civil conflict – to do what they did best – create division and perpetuate unrest. The uneccessary creation of the Palestinian identity was a deliberate act that led to unmeasurable suffering – on every side. This is the only reason a conflict that should have ended in 1949, is still ongoing today.
And for as long as the Soviets sat behind their wall – the status quo remained intact, but that all changed in 1989. In a post Soviet world, parts of western society began to believe that their bubble was ‘the world’ and what really mattered was gender identity, decolonisation, white priviledge and critical race theory. Let’s be utterly frank – outside of our western bubble – which contains only about 10% of the world population – most people think we have gone insane. Do the Biafrans – along with the Kurds, Uighurs and countless others that have long been sold out – need to make sure that they sign every plea for assistance with the correct pronouns? The world hasn’t changed – some people just fool themselves into believing that it has.
The age of post Soviet propaganda
The post Soviet world was still a dangerous one. A world with Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, the DEC, Nigeria, Myanmar and so on is hardly a vision of utopia. But with the ‘big bad’ seemingly done away with, a growing number of people in the west lowered their guard and for decades Russian state propaganda has spread endless lies into our ‘bubble’. Assisted by Islamist forces such as the Brotherhood and PFLP, what was once the ‘unthinkable’, became a new truth embedded inside the mainsteam left.
Western politicians / journalists / academics / activists all shared the lies of these propaganda outlets. You don’t have to go far to find evidence of politicians sharing RT Today or numerous other Russian propaganda outfits. The lies they told were endless – and these lies became the new truth.
‘Israel is an Apartheid state’ is a lie so obvious – yet everyone from the BBC to CNN has given this propaganda airtime. That is where some of the conversation is now and it shows just how successful these outlets have been over the last few decades. In the last few days Twitter has taken to placing warnings on Russian State news outlets. Why now? What exactly is it that separates the lies of Russian propaganda today, from the lies of yesterday? Or last year? Or the year before?
Russian troops in Syria have been looking the other direction whenever Israel struck Iranian-backed Hezbollah targets for the last seven years. Now, Russia’s attitude toward Israel might be changing.
On today’s program, we discuss why Israel has been so careful to avoid directly confronting Russia, instead, choosing the humanitarian approach. Israel has sent 100 tons of aid to Ukraine, and stands ready to assist any and all Ukrainian Jews to make aliyah to Israel.
Ukrainian President Says Biden Didn't Have 'Good Contact' With Him Until After War Already Started
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters Thursday that he and American President Joe Biden did not have “good contact” until after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had already begun.
Zelenskyy was asked what his conversations had been like with the White House throughout the conflict, which has seen reports of thousands of casualties and Russian bombing of civilian areas in Ukraine’s largest cities. He said he and Biden had “good contact” and he was thankful for the American president and his team, but that it hadn’t begun in earnest until it was too late.
“We have good contact. I can tell you the truth. It’s a pity it began after the beginning of this war, but we have it. My appreciation to him and to his team.”
Zelenskyy has called on the United States and other western nations to do more to assist his country in its fight against Russian aggressors, including the imposition of a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace. The Biden administration has taken a lead along with the European Union in crafting sanctions against Moscow, but so far the invasion has continued.
In the leadup to the invasion, the White House repeatedly warned that an attack is imminent, but did not take major deterrent steps to stop the war until after it had already begun. At a press briefing last week, State Department spokesman Ned Price defended the strategy of holding off on sanctions, including on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, saying it gave the Biden administration more leverage than if sanctions were already in place prior to the fight beginning.
A damning indictment of Joe Biden's handling of the Ukraine crisis. The Biden team should hold their heads in shame. https://t.co/W3WXSjhBel
— Nile Gardiner (@NileGardiner) March 3, 2022
Ukraine and Russia Agree on Evacuation Corridors as US Sanctions Oligarchs
Russia and Ukraine agreed on Thursday to the need for humanitarian corridors to help civilians escape Moscow’s eight-day-long invasion, the first apparent progress in talks, as the United States and Britain hit more oligarchs with sanctions.UNHRC votes 32-2 to prob Russian human rights violations in Ukraine
Thousands are thought to have died or been wounded as the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two unfolds, creating 1 million refugees, hits to Russia’s economy and fears of wider conflict in the West unthought-of for decades.
Russian forces, however, have continued to surround and attack Ukrainian cities, including Mariupol, the main port in the east which has been under heavy bombardment, with no water or power. Officials say they cannot evacuate the wounded.
After talks at an undisclosed location, Russia said “substantial progress” had been made while the Ukrainian side pointed to an understanding on helping ordinary people, but not the results Kyiv had hoped for.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said a temporary halt to fighting in select locations was also possible.
“That is, not everywhere, but only in those places where the humanitarian corridors themselves will be located, it will be possible to cease fire for the duration of the evacuation,” he said.
They had also seen eye-to-eye on the delivery of medicines and food to the places where the fiercest fighting was taking place. The negotiators will meet again next week, the Belarusian state news agency Belta quoted Podolyak as saying.
The United Nations Human Rights Council voted 32-2 on Friday to open a Commission of Inquiry into Russian human rights abuses in Ukraine.UN: Over 1.2 million have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded
The three-person investigatory team will probe "all alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and related crimes, in the context of the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine," the resolution states.
In addition, the probe will "establish the facts, circumstances, and root causes of any such violations and abuses."
The two opposing countries were: Russia and Eritrea. The UNHRC vote was among a number of actions International bodies have taken to condemn Russia since its military began attacking Ukraine nine days ago.
Some rights groups had called for Russia, a voting member of the 47-Member Council, to be suspended. However, this can only be decided by the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the creation of the probe.
"Evidence will be documented and used in international courts. Russian war criminals will be held accountable," he tweeted.
More than 1.2 million people have fled Ukraine into neighboring countries since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, United Nations figures showed Friday.1,408 Ukrainians Have Arrived in Israel Since Start of Russian Invasion
The UN children’s agency UNICEF estimates that around half a million of them are youngsters.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has projected that more than four million Ukrainian refugees may eventually need protection and assistance.
“The rate of this exodus is quite phenomenal,” said UNHCR communications chief Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams.
“We know that there are many more on the move. Also there are possibly equal numbers inside the country that are internally displaced.”
The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said people from roughly 138 countries had left, recording 78,800 from third countries crossing Ukraine’s borders, including migrant workers and students.
Israel’s Border Crossings, Population and Immigration Administration reported Friday that 1,408 foreigners with Ukrainian passports have arrived in the Jewish state since the Russian invasion began last week.Body of Israeli man killed in Ukraine returning to Israel for burial
The authority said 79 of them were refused entry.
Ukraine has about 43,300 people who identify as Jewish and about 200,000 who are eligible to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return of Jews and Their Relatives, according to a 2020 demographic study of Jews from Europe.
Israel rarely grants refugee status to non-Jews, instead allowing them temporary entry as tourists.
Earlier this week, the Jewish Agency reported that more than 5,000 people in Ukraine have started the process of immigrating to Israel.
The Jewish Agency, which created a specific call center after the Russian invasion, has also set up six offices in countries bordering Ukraine (Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary) where candidates for immigration are received to assess their application, which is then forwarded to the Israeli authorities.
Roman Brodsky, an Israeli-Ukrainian man killed in Ukraine, on February 28, 2022. (Courtesy)The Tikvah Podcast: Dovid Margolin on Jewish Life in War-torn Ukraine
The remains of an Israeli man who was killed by Ukrainian troops due to apparent mistaken identity were being flown back to Israel on Friday ahead of his burial, the Foreign Ministry said.
The remains of Roman Brodsky were on a flight from Romania to Tel Aviv after being flown the previous evening from Ukraine to Moldova and from there to Romania.
The ministry said returning Brodsky home was made possible “by representatives from the Foreign Ministry, ZAKA, Chabad officials, and the Menuha La’ad burial society.”
Brodsky was initially scheduled to be buried later Friday, but the Kan public broadcaster said the funeral had been delayed until Sunday, where he will be buried in the southern city of Arad.
Brodsky was shot dead by Ukrainian troops after he was apparently mistaken for a Chechen soldier.
His parents asked that his remains be flown back to Israel for burial. There was reportedly a brief disagreement between Brodsky’s partner and the family on repatriating his body due to the dangerous situation.
Brodsky’s father, Yafim, wanted to bury his son in Israel, but Brodsky’s partner, Mila, was afraid to travel, according to Channel 12 news.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, most of the news coverage has understandably focused on the war’s military, political, and economic dimensions. But there’s another dimension of the war: the everyday people who are affected by it, and in particular, the Jewish communities that are affected by it. How does being in the midst of a war change prayer, or the operations of a synagogue? What does a rabbi do when his congregation is under attack?
Dovid Margolin, a senior editor at Chabad.org., joins the podcast this week to discuss this in the context of Ukraine. In conversation with Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver, Margolin talks about the history of the Jews in Ukraine and how Jewish leaders there have helped their fellow Ukrainians during the war, from sheltering those with nowhere to go to moving entire orphanages out of the country.
My excellent conversation with @ELuttwak and @VladDavidzon on the military situation in Ukraine, Western sanctions, the credibility of Putin’s nuclear threat, and how Volodymyr Zelensky became the bravest Jew on the face of the earth. @tabletmaghttps://t.co/bCkJNiLy4W
— Jeremy Stern (@JeremySternLA) March 3, 2022
Ukraine on Day 7 of Putin’s war of aggression. My article in yesterday’s Daily Mirror. pic.twitter.com/m9dGN2EUDu
— R?????? K??? ? (@COLRICHARDKEMP) March 3, 2022
Good. Maybe @UN_HRC can disband the obscene Commission of Inquiry against #Israel, and the millions of dollars it will waste on that, and focus on something a little more pressing - like the Commission of Inquiry on #Russia! https://t.co/xNukSYDAaw
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) March 4, 2022
To 'denazify' Ukraine, Putin has sent Nazis to kill a Jew!
— GnasherJew®????? (@GnasherJew) March 4, 2022
According to The Times, The Wagner Group is behind the assassination attempts against Zelensky. Here is Dmitry Utkin, who runs The Wagner Group, showing off his Waffen SS collar tab and Reichsadler Eagle tattoo. pic.twitter.com/lS14dNdJA6
'Putin is a genuine gangster... he's not crazy like Hitler, but he's evil like Hitler'
— GB News (@GBNEWS) March 3, 2022
Broadcaster Andrew Klavan says when people protest in Moscow 'you have to take your hat off to them'. pic.twitter.com/OuhJNSLd3p
Ash Sarkar
— leekern (@leekern13) March 4, 2022
-has engaged in antisemitic tokenism
-supported antisemitic Corbynism
-champions desecration of Warsaw Holocaust site
-irrelevantly funnels ire at world events towards only Jewish state
-is still indulged by showbiz wankers on twitter & invited onto TV as commentator pic.twitter.com/wljz0UM6np
Natural Gas for Hezbollah, but Not the EU?
News for Hochstein: Lebanon is already a failed state. Hezbollah ransacked it and destroyed it. Electricity won't solve Lebanon's problems. Liberation might, but Hochstein isn't going there. And where will the gas come from?Jews, Ukraine and the BBC
Hochstein: "In order to get the gas, you have to come through somewhere. Egypt has to go through somewhere. Israel is probably not the right place for it to come, and therefore Syria is the only option."
This is a staggering thought in two ways. First, not Israel—well, that Hezbollah would 100 percent rather rule a "failed state" than take gas from Israel is a given. That the U.S. government agrees with Hezbollah about this is troublesome, to put it mildly. And THROUGH SYRIA? The U.S. will facilitate commerce through the criminal and sanctioned Assad regime, responsible for the deaths of an estimated half-million-plus people, including through the use of chemical weapons, rather than issue an ultimatum to Hezbollah—gas from Israel or no gas at all.
Now, THAT is staggering.
Hochstein: "There's no transaction with the Syrian regime. We do not believe in normalizing Assad...and this is in no way, shape or form a waiving of those sanctions or undermining them. This will allow Syria to keep some of the gas—a small percentage of the gas in Syria, for electricity for Syrian people, in exchange—as a payment for the tariff, for the gas to go through Syria."
Cue laughter. What percentage, who will monitor it and how will Syria be penalized if/when it takes too much?
As for EastMed?
Hochstein: "I've always believed...countries deserve to have affordable and reliable sources of energy. ...By and large, I don't advocate for natural gas in almost any other place in the world, except when it's for immediate use now, not for legacy projects that will be forever."
Translation: Gas for Hezbollah now because there are pipelines already in existence. New pipelines to reduce future European reliance on Russia? No. But...
Hochstein: "With Russia threatening its neighbors with invasion, and with Russia under-supplying the European market because it wants it to have leverage over Europe through natural gas, sending prices soaring across Europe and wreaking havoc for people as they struggle to heat their homes in the middle of the winter—we need to make sure that there's enough natural gas and enough energy products for today's world, while not losing focus on the energy transition."
Translation: Finishing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia? OK. Future allied-operated natural gas for European use? No.
Hochstein: "The gas market in the Eastern Mediterranean all around [Lebanon] went from nothing to everything. The Zur discovery in Egypt, the discovery is in Israel, the infrastructure in Cyprus, in...Greece. The infrastructure in Turkey. All around you—in 10 years, [it] went from literally zero to transformational. Except in Lebanon. So, you're not losing by compromising. You're gaining."
Translation: Get in on the action, Hezbollah. Europe, not so much. Israel, not with any help from us.
I have just watched a remarkable clip from BBC Channel 4 News as President Zelensky was told that the Russians had bombed the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial. Babyn Yar (still best known to many as Babi Yar) is a ravine in Kyiv where nearly 34,000 Jews were killed by German troops at the end of September 1941. It was one of the worst single massacres during the Holocaust.
In other massacres at that site victims included Soviet prisoners of war, communists, Ukrainian nationalists and Roma. News reached Victor Klemperer in Dresden. He noted in his diary in April 1942 the “ghastly mass murders of Jews in Kiev. The heads of small children smashed against walls, thousands of men, women, adolescents shot down in a great heap, a hillock blown up and the mass of bodies buried under the exploding earth.” Half of the victims were never named.
Babyn Yar was the subject of poems by Lev Ozerov, Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Ilya Ehrenburg among others. In the first movement of Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony, Shostakovich and Yevtushenko transform the massacre of Jews at Babi Yar into a denunciation of antisemitism in all its forms. In DM Thomas’s novel, The White Hotel (1981), there is a famous scene when the central character, Elisabeth (Lisa) Erdman, and her young son are sent to Babyn Yar.
On September 29, 2016, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, together with public figures and philanthropists, initiated the creation of the first Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre. The Memorial Centre was to be created in 2023. On 1 March 2022, the site of Babyn Yar was hit by Russian missiles and shells.
One striking feature of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has been the role of Jews. There have been moving images of orthodox Jews leaving Ukraine and of a rabbi leaving his synagogue perhaps for the last time. Volodymyr Zelensky is himself Jewish and his grandfather, Semyon (Simon), lost his father and three brothers in the Holocaust. Israel has sent doctors and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and has helped evacuate a number of people from Ukraine, including Lebanese, Syrian and Egyptian citizens.
Of course, Ukraine is a Christian country and has a terrible history of antisemitic violence including the famous pogrom at Kishinev and the role of Ukrainian collaborators in the murder of many Jews during the Holocaust. In his new book, In The Midst of Civilized Europe: The pogroms of 1918-1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust (2021), Jeffrey Veidlinger wrote, “Between November 1918 and March 1921, during the civil war that followed the Great War, over one thousand anti-Jewish riots and military actions — both of which were commonly referred to as pogroms — were documented in about five hundred different locales throughout what is now Ukraine…”
Palestinian political analyst Hani al-Masri: The president of #Ukraine is Jewish, and there is no problem with that, but he is a Zionist and holds Israeli citizenship. If he survives the war, we could see him as a settler and a political leader in Israel. pic.twitter.com/QLNGuxiKk3
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) March 3, 2022
Introducing you to the UN home security system a.k.a the “UNsafe”… pic.twitter.com/XeWWjacdJ3
— Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) February 27, 2022
