Why we must support both Israel and Ukraine 

As a Jew and first-generation American whose father came from what we used to call the USSR (more aptly described as Soviet-era Ukraine), I cannot help but see the connection between modern-day Ukraine and Israel, both of which are confronting brutal aggression and terrorism against their civilian populations.  

And I am shocked that even in the face of such barbarism, which everyone in the world can see on their phones, some in the Republican Party are taking the side of the terrorists and dictators.  

Supporting Ukraine and Israel is morally right and advances America’s strategic interests. Siding with Russia against Ukraine or with Hamas against Israel, by design or negligence, is un-American. Ukraine and Israel are faced with life-or-death threats to their populations and to their democracies. But their struggles are also a test for our democracy, which has served as a beacon of hope and stalwart supporter of these kinds of fights for freedom and democracy throughout the world for generations. 

In the middle of the Cold War, before Ronald Reagan uttered the phrase, “take down this (Berlin) wall,” my dad, his two brothers, and my grandparents sought to emigrate to the United States from Uzhorod, a little town by the Uzh River in the shadow of the Carpathian Mountains in Western Ukraine. In the mid-1970s, they were among the first waves of Russian refuseniks. The Jewish community and its allies, Democrats and Republicans alike, worked tirelessly to get families like theirs out from under Soviet oppression. In fact, it took almost seven years, as the USSR forced my dad to serve in the Soviet Army in Vladivostok, which was on the other side of the country, before they were allowed to emigrate. Other Jewish families in Russia, including some of my father’s cousins, emigrated to Israel.  

My dad and his cousins arrived in their new home countries right after and right before, respectively, the Yom Kippur War started, 50 years ago this month — 50 years before Hamas murdered more Jews on any day since the Holocaust. What we saw that day in Israel was Russian-style pogroms, except this time, the whole world saw. 

Hamas and Russia are first and foremost enemies of Israel and Ukraine, but not exclusively. They will continue to unleash terror around the world until they are stopped. It is essential that the U.S. provide Israel and Ukraine everything they need to fight and win: anti-missile defenses, ammunition, access to intelligence, humanitarian assistance, training and more. The aid both countries are requesting, combined, is a minuscule percentage of the U.S. budget — defense or  domestic. But that aid could mean the difference between victory and defeat for Israel and Ukraine and for the future of democracy across the globe. Israel and Ukraine are not asking one single American soldier to risk their life. All they want is for us to give them the tools so that they can do the job. 

This is an inflection point for democracy and freedom. We have seen with our own eyes, in real time, the barbarism of both Hamas and Russia. The torture and slaughter of civilians — women, children and elderly, unarmed and begging — and the capture of hostages to serve as human shields are acts not of war but of terror. We cannot stand idly by, bearing witness without providing help. That’s not the American way.  

For their sake, for our sake, for the world’s sake, we must fully support Israel and Ukraine in their struggle, in our collective struggle, against the darkest forces of human nature. 

Israel “Izzy” Klein is a founding board member of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, a co-founder and principal of the Klein/Johnson Group, and a former communications director for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).