There are as many as 300,000 Jews living in Ukraine today. Whatever happens in the weeks and months ahead, they know they don’t have to face the prospect of homelessness. And that’s because, thankfully, Israel is a reality.
With the brazen Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is important to try to understand how this happened and how to respond. This act of war didn’t occur in a vacuum. Russian President Vladimir Putin had said as early as 2005 that the “collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.”
The fundamental problem with the Amnesty International report is that it is disconnected from reality. Israel has nothing to do with apartheid, and apartheid has nothing to do with Israel.
The potential for further improvement of Jewish-Arab relations in Israel is promising, given the participation of an Arab party, Ra’am, for the first time in the governing coalition. The role of non-governmental organizations like Givat Haviva in shaping Jewish-Arab understanding and cooperation has long been and will continue to be an important factor in strengthening Israel’s democratic society.
By revoking resolution 3379, the UN determined that Zionism is not a form of racism, a determination it has not made regarding any other national movement. Clearly, this has been a setback for those seeking to use the UN as a platform to advance their extreme anti-Israel agenda. Will they learn from this experience and act differently in the future? Sadly, Israel’s adversaries have not relented.