1y ago

Ukraine backers blast ‘double standard’ after allies rush to Israel’s defense

www.politico.eu

If the United States and its allies can rush to Israel's defense in the skies, shooting down dozens of drones and missiles fired by Iran, why can't they do the same for Ukraine — which has suffered under Russia's missile attacks for more than two years?

That's the question Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his country's staunchest backers in the West were asking on Monday, hours after the U.S., the United Kingdom, France and Jordan helped Israel shoot down some 300 drones and missiles fired by Iran in retaliation after Israel killed its senior military commanders in Syria.

“European skies could have received the same level of protection long ago if Ukraine had received similar full support from its partners in intercepting drones and missiles," Zelenskyy wrote Monday evening in a post on X.

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Because Iran doesn't have a massive nuclear weapons stockpile.
- The last few years have shown that any nation that wants to be taken seriously needs a capable nuclear arsenal. Literally nothing else matters.
  
  Yep. Which is why the liberal "international rules based world order" is nothing but a scam at this point. To many countries the only line of defense against getting invaded by a major nuclear power is having a capable nuclear arsenal themselves.
  
  Countries should start building satellites that can drop rods from god instead. It polluted the environment less than our ancient nuclear weaponry and looks cooler
- What would Russia's response be if NATO countries defended Ukraine with missile and drones shot down over Kiev, Levin, Odesa. Not sure they would do anything.
  
  They'd probably not do much, but we don't know that for sure. It could also pull NATO into a direct conflict with Russia.
  And noone is particularly keen on finding out where exactly the border lies for retaliation by Russia.
  So best we can do right now is provide Ukraine with the military support they need, without getting directly involved in the conflict ourselves.
- We're in for, what? $150B already? I don't think Russian nukes are what's holding up Ukraine funding in Congress.
  The Rightwing memelords have spent the last two years insisting Ukrainian military aid is tied to Hunter Biden's cocaine dick and now half of Congress is blacklisting the funding in hopes of pleasing the 4chan party base.
  
  Funding? No. But with the Iranian drone/missile strike US and other allied forces were doing interceptions. That's not happening in Ukraine unless there are some dramatic escalations, right wing memelords or no.
- Doesn't mean we couldn't send interceptor rockets to Ukraine. We didn't bomb Iran we just intercepted their missiles and drones.
- Or Israel and Iran are both mentioned in the Bible and the apocalyptic Christians in the charge of the West only care about that?
  
  Iran isn't directly mentioned. Vague terms like "the North" appear, and historically many American evangelicals have identified the USSR with it, because that was the geopolitical bogeyman of the day. I've had older evangelicals insist to me that Russia borders Israel as a result.
  Iran's more plausible than Russia, but if we pretend for a moment it's not all some desert guy's mushroom trip it could just as easily be Turkey.
- That's not the reason.
Dear Ukrainians, if you wanted unconditional support maybe you should have been mentioned in the Bible.
- Lol, you don't know how close to the truth you are. 80% of Israel are Ashkenazi, literal meaning is German. From Khazaria a kingdom in what is now the Ukraine. They converted to Judaism enmasse. Did I say this, no, a Jewish professor from Tel Aviv University did.
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invention_of_the_Jewish_People#:~:text=The%20Invention%20of%20the%20Jewish%20People%20(Hebrew%3A%20%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%99%20%D7%95%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9A%20%D7%94%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%A6%D7%90,History%20at%20Tel%20Aviv%20University.
  
  Best CK3 steppe nomads hands down
  It's a little more complicated than that in actuality but us citified folk simply can't handle the idea of people just like, moving their whole clan a couple hundred miles away whenever they feel like it
- Maybe if we said the Russians aren't shooting missiles, they're shooting planes full of pregnant women trying to get abortions the GOP would finally get on board with helping.
  
  Downing a plane full of women going to an abortion clinic to stop those abortions sounds plausible for GOP, according to what I learned on the internet.
  
  But they're already helping the Russians. Why would they need more motivation?
Zelensky's tweet full text:
The entire world witnessed allied action in the skies above Israel and neighboring countries. It demonstrated how truly effective unity in defending against terror can be when it is based on sufficient political will.
Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Jordan acted together and with maximum efficiency.
Together, they prevented terror from prevailing. And they are working together, and in coordination with others, to prevent further escalation.
Israel is not a NATO member, so no action, such as triggering Article 5, was required. And no one was dragged into the war. They simply contributed to the protection of human life.
"Shaheds" in the skies above Ukraine sound identical to those over the Middle East. The impact of ballistic missiles, if they are not intercepted, is the same everywhere.
European skies could have received the same level of protection long ago if Ukraine had received similar full support from its partners in intercepting drones and missiles. Terror must be defeated completely and everywhere, not more in some places and less in others.
I thank everyone in the world, every leader and state, who truly assists us with air defense and missiles necessary to protect our skies, as well as training our pilots on F-16s. All of this already works and will continue to work to save lives.
However, we can now see how unity can work truly a hundred percent, and how almost a hundred percent of “Shaheds” and missiles can be intercepted. We will discuss it with our partners.
- It's worth supplementing this with his earlier statement from 2 days ago:
  “Ukraine condemns Iran’s attack on Israel using ‘Shahed’ drones and missiles. We in Ukraine know very well the horror of similar attacks by Russia, which uses the same ‘Shahed’ drones and Russian missiles, the same tactics of mass air strikes,”
  “It is critical that the United States Congress make the necessary decisions to strengthen America’s allies at this critical time,” he says.
  
  Problem is, not everyone in the United States has the same allies.
That is a very good question. And the answer is, sadly, that the west doesn't care that much about Ukraine.
- Maybe Ukraine has to violate some human rights before they're taken more serious. Works for Israel.
  
  Their mistake was giving up the nukes in their possession in the 90s in exchange for worthless security guarantees. No other nation should ever be so stupid.
  
  Specifically they have to mass murder people of a non-white etnicity to get the full support of the Western power elites.
  It's the etnic cleansing of non-whites that really makes it irresistable to certain elites in the West.
- It’s obviously because of nukes.
- Another part of the answer is geographical. Jordan helped Israel intercept because their airspace is between Iran and Israel.
  The distance between Russia and Ukraine is far shorter.
- Yeah. The American government cares more about Israel than its own citizens.
  That's why we still give Israel our full support despite it being one of the main reasons for the 9/11 attacks.
Just illegally bomb an embassy.
- As soon as it starts being used by military Personnel and becomes a legitimate military Target, they will
Because NSO Group is an Israeli company.
- Zelensky is a racist zionist after all
Dear Ukraine, the difference is that America wants a war with Iran, whereas it is happy to have a proxy war with Russia. Give the opponent just enough to fend off an attack but not enough for victory.
The war with Iran is meant to be the defining war for this generation. There has not been a single generation of Americans who have not been involved in war.
- The US is perfectly happy to have Israel as a proxy against Iran.

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