editorials
Ukraine in Turmoil
I n retrospect, politicians and pundits agree that
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to
launch an all-out attack on neighboring Ukraine was
predictable. They point to Putin’s paranoid obsession with an
ever-growing list of accusations of Russia-targeted
expansion in Eastern Europe by the West and NATO,
and the unsupported charges of Ukrainian atrocities
against the country’s Russian-speaking minority. Yet,
in the run-up to the attack, there was hope that an
invasion could be averted and that reason, diplomacy
and a universal interest in world order would prevail.

That was not to be.

While governments and their leaders were issu-
ing warnings and threats designed to deter Putin,
the international Jewish aid world was ramping up
its efforts for rescue and relief of Jews in Ukraine.

Instead of waiting for the attack to launch, the relief
agencies planned for it with something close to mil-
itary precision.

The size of Ukraine’s Jewish community is unclear.

A 2020 demographic survey numbered 43,000 Jews.

The European Jewish Congress says that number
could be as high as 400,000. In any case, by the
morning after the invasion, Jewish federations in this
country were announcing a Ukraine emergency fund
and their partnering with the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Agency
for Israel (JAFI), HIAS and World ORT — all of
whom have been working in Ukraine for decades
and have established relationships in Ukraine to help
facilitate relief protocols.

We applaud the quick mobilization and careful
planning of the Jewish relief effort, and the related
fundraising activities of our local federations and the
umbrella Jewish Federations of North America. In
this time of crisis, our communities are proving once
again that we are our brothers’ keepers.

While governments and their leaders
were issuing warnings and threats
designed to deter Putin, the
international Jewish aid world was
ramping up its efforts for rescue and
relief of Jews in Ukraine.

The Jewish Agency has established six aliyah-pro-
cessing stations at Ukrainian borders to help facilitate
a safe and quick aliyah for those eligible, interested
and able to take advantage of the opportunity; has
accelerated a program to upgrade security at Jewish
institutions across Ukraine; and has arranged care
for the more than 1500 Ukrainians involved in
JAFI-sponsored programs in Israel, Budapest and
elsewhere, who cannot return home.

JDC’s work in the area is focused on Ukraine’s
Jewish population — many of whom are refugees in
their own country. That work includes continuing
care for nearly 40,000 impoverished elderly Jewish
Ukrainians and thousands of vulnerable younger
community members and involves as well as works
with dozens of local organizations devoted to com-
munal safety and welfare.

Israel has announced a significant aid package for
Ukraine’s Jewish community to support security
assistance, food distribution and absorption of refu-
gees. But, on the political side, the Israeli government
has pulled its punches. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid
condemned the Russian invasion. But Prime Minister
Naftali Bennett, in speaking about assistance to Jews
in Ukraine, did not name the cause of the situation
or place fault. That reluctance to confront Putin and
Russia caused some to criticize the government’s
failure to respond to the invasion with moral clarity.

Others were more accepting, recognizing the fragil-
ity of Israel’s reliance on Russian goodwill to allow
preemptive moves against Iranian terror-supporting
activity in war-torn Syria. On Monday, however,
Israel announced it would join the U.N. vote to con-
demn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In the fluid and fraught situation in Ukraine, we
find comfort knowing that our community’s inter-
national partners are there to help. We encourage
our readers to donate generously to those life-saving
efforts. JE
Ketanji Brown Jackson — a Republican Opportunity
W ith war raging in Eastern Europe, you could
be forgiven for missing the news last week
that President Joe Biden nominated U.S. Court of
Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S.

Supreme Court. The nomination is consequential —
not because Jackson would be the first Black woman to
sit on the court, but because the nomination presents
an opportunity for Senate Republicans to rise above
partisan politics and join in approving a worthy can-
didate on her merits.

The Jackson nomination comes at a significant
inflection point in the Biden presidency, as it will be
considered and debated during the runup buildup
to this year’s midterm elections. Most agree that
Democrats face significant challenges in the com-
ing round of voting. But if Republicans are seen as
obstructionist or unreasonable in their treatment of
the Jackson nomination, they could pay a price at the
polls. Besides, even if her nomination is confirmed
Jackson is not likely to change the current ideological
14 MARCH 3, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
balance of the Supreme Court — which is also likely
the case for any other Biden nominee.

Republicans should embrace the Jackson nomi-
nation because she is qualified for the job. Indeed,
her resume reads much like many others who have
served on the Supreme Court. She attended Harvard
University for her undergraduate degree, attended
Harvard Law School and served as an editor of
the Harvard Law Review. She then clerked for U.S.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, the justice
whose seat she will fill, if confirmed.

Jackson also brings a different blend of work expe-
riences to her potential new position, as she will be
the first justice to have served as a federal public
defender. In her two years in the appellate office of
the DC Public Defender Service Jackson obtained a
different perspective of the federal criminal justice
system — something that has served her well in her
eight years as a U.S. District Court judge, and in her
current position on the prestigious U.S. Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The upcoming hearings on Jackson’s nomination
will be her fourth appearance before a Senate confir-
mation panel. Democrats are hoping for bipartisan
support for her nomination this time, just like there
was in her three previous appearances. While we
join in that hope and believe such a move to be in
Republican interests, we are not optimistic. We want
to be wrong. But last week’s reflexive Republican
efforts to link Jackson to the “radical left” and to tar-
nish her record by calling her “the favored choice of
far-left dark-money groups,” make us doubtful.

Whether any Republican senators will vote to
confirm Jackson remains to be seen. We hope some
do. But above all else, we encourage consideration of
Jackson’s qualifications on their impressive merit —
irrespective of other considerations. Ketanji Brown
Jackson is a gifted lawyer and respected jurist. She
has the background and experience to serve on the
U.S.Supreme Court and deserves to be confirmed. JE