The war between Ukraine and Russia is presenting all manner of creative comparisons with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – from Vladimir Putin’s side, to Ukraine’s side, to the Palestinian civil side and beyond.
From the perspective of Russia, state-sponsored propaganda is abounding from seemingly every direction, from Putin’s initial claim that the impetus for the war was to “denazify” Ukraine, to claiming that Ukraine is “using human shields,” among other absurd accusations.
Obviously this claim is patently ridiculous given the fact that Ukraine is the only country other than Israel to have a Jewish head of state. Certainly, antisemitism and neo-Nazism is a problem in Ukraine, but it’s hardly the reason Putin launched a war on the democratic former Soviet state.
Additionally, the war crime of using human shields is a comparison he’s likely seen used by Western nations like Israel (and even the US) in fighting terrorist organizations. The difference is that Ukraine is not a terrorist organization; it is a sovereign democratic state, and unlike the situation in Gaza with Hamas, Ukraine is certainly not using human shields.
On the contrary, Ukraine negotiated civilian evacuation routes, which Russia agreed to and then violated, intentionally targeting civilians. Russia has fired at journalists and bombed schools, hospitals and civilian neighborhoods. It even bombed a Jewish Hillel center in Kharkiv in their “denazificiation” campaign.
From the Palestinian civil side, along with its supporters, there has been much chatter across social media platforms claiming that Ukraine is in the same position as the Palestinians with Russia being the “oppressor” like Israel and Ukraine being the “victim” like the Palestinians. This is yet another cynical attempt to hijack a completely unrelated conflict and make it about Palestinians.
On the one hand, they are right that Ukraine is the victim in this situation, but even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that “we should be like the Israelis in defending our homeland,” a reference of course to the homeland of the Jewish people – the land of Israel.
Ukraine has a right to defend its land and its sovereignty just as the State of Israel does. Unlike both Israel and Ukraine, there has never been an independent and sovereign state of Palestine.
Palestinian activists were also quick to compare how civilians are being targeted in this conflict, but again, the difference is that Israel goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties, whereas Russia is intentionally targeting civilians to wreak havoc over the country and then lying about it to the media.
Unlike Russia, Israel doesn’t censor social media or traditional media, it doesn’t pass laws stating those who spread “fake news” will go to prison for up to 15 years, nor does it arrest protesters for opposing IDF military action.
Ironically, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas both imprison and in some cases execute those who dissent their leadership. They do not have a free press, they use human shields and they haven’t had elections in more than a decade. It turns out the Palestinian leadership seems to have a lot more in common with Russia than with Ukraine.
While Palestinian activists were busy tweeting their inaccurate comparisons, Israel sent more than 100 tons of aid to Ukraine and began building a field hospital and a refugee aid center. Israel also oversaw the rescue of Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian and, yes, Palestinian nationals from Ukraine.
Obviously no two conflicts are the same, but the heart of the issue between Israel and the Palestinians and Ukraine and Russia actually does have some similarities. Palestinian leaders reject the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state in the historical homeland of the Jewish people. Russia rejects the right of Ukraine to exist as a sovereign and democratic country.
For both Russia and the Palestinian leaders, as it stands today, this is not a war over territory, it’s a war over ideology.
In both cases, the genocidal agenda to wipe out the rights of the other has already proven to be self-sabotaging, yet for both regimes, they’d rather see their victims, Israel and Ukraine, suffer, than accept their right to exist. A meaningful change cannot and will not occur until the mentality of the leaders in both Russia and the Palestinian territories changes.
The writer is the CEO of Social Lite Creative.