Wars and states of emergency are tests. A test of our humanity, our resilience, our values. Many Israelis talk, justifiably, about the failure of the West in general and the US in particular in this test. But are the Israelis who are criticizing western leaders looking at us, as well?
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Israel appears to be one of the 20 strongest nations in the world. We are a wealthy country, with a strong military, exceptionally smart citizens, and advanced capabilities in every sector. Does that not also mean we have a responsibility?
Many oppose Israel actively intervening in Ukraine based on their stance about the Holocaust, arguing that first of all, the Ukrainians were brutal toward Jews during the Holocaust and responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of our people, and also that the Holocaust has taught us that our first priority must be to take care of ourselves.
Another element of the opposition is anchored in the present, and argues that if we intervene in the Ukraine crisis, it will endanger Israel's existence because it will eliminate coordination with Putin in Syria and lay the groundwork for the Iranians to attack Israel.
The problem with the argument about the Ukrainians' past brutality is that if we base our foreign policy on the first half of the last century, we would forego relations with the vast majority of European countries.
The second argument is much more significant. In his exciting book "The Zionist Revolution and those who Rise Against Us At Home," Professor Menachem Fish goes back to the ideological roots of Zionism and Judaism, and shows us that nearly all the moral commandments in the Torah mandate that we remember the Exodus – Shabbat, the shmita year, how we treat converts, and more. The Exodus is anchored in an ideological constitution for a Jewish state that would rise in the Land of Israel, and that ideological-moral constitution is entirely based on the experience of exile in Egypt and the Egyptians' attempts to annihilate the Jewish people.
The purpose of Jewish independence, therefore, is not merely to establish a strong state and military to defend the Jews, but also to serve as an example for the rest of the nations of the world, to "be a light unto nations." A state like that will be the first to provide equal standing to all the people who live there, eradicate slavery, provide a free day every week, and live up to additional moral commandments.
If there was one thing that all the Zionist thinkers agreed on, it was that the Jews were not founding a state merely as a haven. The Jewish state had national liberal-universal values, and therefore the world would benefit from its existence.
And the claim that warns that intervention will create an existential threat for Israel? If Israel uses its power to support Ukraine and demonstrate ideological strength, not only will we not bring a threat closer – we will push it away. The stronger you are externally, there less chance there is that you will be threatened. Moreover, we should remember that Putin is not friend to Israel. The opposite – he is a friend of Iran and Syria, who want to eradicate us, so sucking up to him won't do us any good.
Many Israeli volunteers have already departed to help the Ukrainians. These include chairman of One Heart, an organization I had the privilege of co-founding. The delegation is helping put together a network of Ukrainian volunteers, using the experience we gained in Israel. This is what the Jewish legacy looks like, and it's why we founded the state.
Alongside the impressive civilian efforts, our government could be doing better. A country based on the Jewish values of remembering the Exodus and "do unto others" would not place preconditions on refugees from a sister nation banging on tis gate, and would not be trying to mediate. It would express a clear position, and not be hesitating between a brutal dictator and leaders who seek liberty and democracy.
The Jewish state that Herzog, Nordau, Ahad Ha'am and Jabotinsky dreamed of would not stand by; it would use its force to be a light to the world.
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