editorials
Israel Must Support Ukraine
I srael is under mounting pressure to take a side in
Russia’s war with Ukraine. And the complications
Israel faces are largely of its own making.

From the outset, it seemed natural that Israel
would join Western, democratic nations in support
of a feisty, democratic Ukraine whose much larger
enemy wants to wipe it off the map. But that’s
not what happened. Instead, Israel’s nuanced
responses to the war have disappointed the
Ukrainians, angered the Russians and frustrated
the United States and other Western allies.

Beginning with former Israeli Prime Minister
Naftali Bennett’s quixotic offer to serve as the
mediator of the dispute and continuing with
Israel’s refusal to boycott Russia or to provide
meaningful funding and military assistance to the
Ukrainian army, Israel has been a Western outlier
by failing to join the United States and its allies in
their coordinated response.

Recently, however, following reports that Iran
has started to provide Russia surface-to-sur-
face ballistic missiles in addition to already
deployed attack drones, there has been mount-
ing pressure on Israel to provide Ukraine with
air defense systems and know-how, and even a
call by Israeli government ministers to provide
military assistance to Kyiv. In addition, Ukraine’s
president and prominent U.S. lawmakers have
openly challenged Israel’s public neutrality,
while Russia has warned against a tilt toward
embattled Ukraine.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was
direct in his challenge: “Isn’t it time for your state
to choose who you are with? [Are you] with the
democratic world, which is fighting side by side
against the existential threat to its existence? Or
with those who turn a blind eye to Russian terror,
even when the cost of continued terror is the com-
plete destruction of global security?”
Similar sentiments were voiced by Sen. Chris
Murphy (D-Conn.), who chairs the Senate sub-
committee dedicated to the Middle East, who told
CNN: “Israel needs to get off the sidelines. ... I just
don’t buy that countries like Israel need to play
both sides. This is a moment where you have to
take a side and you have to stand with the people
of Ukraine.” In response, former Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev warned Israel that if it offered
military assistance to Ukraine, it would seriously
harm relations with Moscow.

Israeli public opinion is decidedly pro-Ukraine.

But Israel’s security establishment sees Russia
and Iran just over Israel’s border in Syria as the
Jewish state’s first priority. Syria is Israel’s tra-
ditional enemy. Iran, which bolsters the Syrian
regime, has vowed to destroy Israel. Russia is
the gatekeeper, supporting Syria, working with
Iran and, by controlling the skies, deciding how
much freedom Israel has to attack the military
buildup on the ground that can threaten Israel.

And some analysts worry that if Israel sends
weapons to Ukraine, Israel could find itself at war
with Russian-backed forces or more sophisticated
Russian air defense systems in Syria.

We don’t minimize these concerns. They are
real. But the escalating death and destruction in
Ukraine demands that Israel do what it can to help
and join with the rest of the Western democratic
world in support of Ukraine. JE
The Blight of Kanye West
Author WENN / WENN English Top Features/Newscom
A ccording to rapper and fashion designer Kanye
West (aka “Ye”), he lost “2 billion dollars in one
day” when Adidas, the Gap and Balenciaga cut ties
with him over a series of very public antisemitic
outbursts last month. On Oct. 8, Ye tweeted that
he was “going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE”
and claimed that he is the target of a “Jewish
underground media mafia.”
It might be easy to blame Ye’s outbursts on
his bipolar disorder. But mental illness is not an
excuse for antisemitism. So it’s important that
his business partners recognize the difference
between loose speech that might be tolerated and
hate speech that cannot. Moreover, given West’s
celebrity — he reportedly has more Instagram fol-
lowers than there are Jews in the world — what he
posts on social media makes a difference.

Adidas was West’s biggest business collabora-
tor. His Yeezy clothing line reportedly accounted
for 10% of Adidas’ revenue. Perhaps it was because
of that impact that West boasted on a recent pod-
cast that “I can say antisemitic things and Adidas
can’t drop me.” But he was wrong, even if it took
Adidas several weeks to cut ties with West. Adidas
made the right move. But its dithering gave critics
time to look into the company’s own antisemitic
past, including its Nazi founder and the compa-
ny’s participation in Germany’s World War II war
14 NOVEMBER 3, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
The world needs to block
Kanye West on social
media, and those drawn
to his music should
explore other talent.

effort. Today’s Adidas is not a Nazi company. And
what Adidas was 75 years ago should not distract
us from West’s outrages today.

Vogue magazine also cut ties with West. As
did JPMorgan Chase, the CAA talent agency
and MRC film and TV studio, which announced
it would not distribute a completed documentary
about West. And lest anyone think the whole ugly
episode was another celebrity melodrama that
will soon be forgotten, a group of white suprema-
cists made sure it would not, when they stood on
an overpass above a Los Angeles freeway with a
banner that read “Kanye is right about the Jews”
and gave the Nazi salute.

In the crisis overload of the last few years, it
is easy to forget that Jews are a small minority
in this country. Growing antisemitism and the
increasing willingness of some to act on their hate
leaves us all vulnerable. We welcome all attempts
to address the problem. One was provided last
week by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who
introduced a spoof product to cure antisemitism
called, “Yentanyl” — a mashup of “yenta” and the
narcotic fentanyl. If only the curse of antisemitism
could be addressed in pill form.

On a more serious note, Rabbi David Wolpe
published a piece in Sapir Journal, arguing that
Judaism “teaches us how we can grow past and
heal the cleavages rending our culture.” Wolpe
didn’t mention West, but his message about the
importance of engagement and conciliation and
the process of teshuvah/repentance reminds us
that reconciliation must be an intentional, mutual
effort. West is unrepentant and appears to have no
interest in reconciliation. He deserves to be
shunned. The world needs to block Kanye West
on social media, and those drawn to his music
should explore other talent. JE