As Israeli delegation visits US, both stress danger of Iranian drones in Ukraine

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan24) Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived on Tuesday in Washington, along with a large delegation for the 48th session of the US-Israeli Joint Political-Military Group.

Herzog met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday and meets with President Joe Biden on Wednesday. In remarks to the press, both US and Israeli officials have stressed the threat from Iran, including in Ukraine, where Russia is using Iranian drones.

Herzog’s remarks followed criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy, as well as prominent US figures, of Israel’s unwillingness to sell arms to Ukraine, including its highly effective Iron Dome missile defense system.

But Israelis are, in fact, divided on that policy. Zelensky, who is, himself, Jewish, expressed that criticism in an address by video link to a Democracy Conference, sponsored by Ha’aretz, Israel’s leading newspaper, in which he received the paper’s 2022 Democracy Award.

Herzog, Blinken Denounce Iran

Before their meeting, Herzog and Blinken spoke briefly to journalists. “Our hearts go out to the people of Iran,” Herzog said. “The women of Iran are oppressed and attacked day in, day out.”

Switching topics, Herzog continued, “And I will be exposing more of the fact that Iranian weapons are used against civilians, innocent civilians in Ukraine.”

Blinken spoke similarly, “We are standing together against the dangerous, destabilizing, and terrorizing actions that Iran is taking in the region and, as you’ve noted, well beyond the region.”

“The provision of drones by Iran to Russia to enable its further aggression against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people is showing horrific results on the ground,” Blinken said, and “it’s something that we are determined to stand against.”

Criticism of Israel’s Failure to Arm Ukraine

“Prominent US lawmakers from both parties have expressed their displeasure at Israel for refusing Ukraine’s request for defensive military equipment to combat Russia’s invasion,” Ha’aretz reported on Sunday.

The Israeli paper cited Sen. Chris Murphy, (D, Connecticut), who chairs the Middle East subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Israel needs to get off the sidelines. Israel is part of the community of democracies, and it needs to stand up for Ukrainian democracy,” Murphy told CNN.

Similarly, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R, Illinois), said, “It is finally time for Israel to support Ukraine,” adding, “Iran is giving Russia drones that are murdering civilians. Israel is out of excuses to sit on the sideline and pretend [it] can’t do anything.”

Prof. Elliot A. Cohen, who teaches at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and who was an adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the George W. Bush administration, tweeted, “Benny Gantz [Israeli Defense Minister] not taking his Ukrainian counterpart’s phone call? Shame on you.“

Zelenksy’s Criticism

But the strongest criticism came from the Ukrainian president, as he accepted Ha’aretz’s Democracy Award.

Zelensky began by explaining the damage that Iranian drones are inflicting on Ukraine. On Oct 17, for example, Ukraine was attacked by 15 Russian cruise missiles—and 42 Iranian combat drones.

One drone struck a residential building in Kyiv, shearing off half the building. “Four floors were destroyed—from the basement to the roof,” Zelensky said. “It stood for 120 years. It was built by Ioselian Levan, an entrepreneur at the time, the head of one of the synagogues,” but it “was destroyed by an Iranian drone.”

Zelensky also stated, as have US officials, that there are Iranian instructors in Ukraine, teaching Russian troops how to use the drones.

“In eight months of full-scale war. Russia has used almost 4,500 missiles against us, and their stock of missiles is dwindling,” Zelensky said. That is why Russia turned to Iran—to secure “affordable weapons.”

He then warned about what Iran might be getting in exchange: Israel’s worst nightmare. Zelenksy suggested the quid pro quo was Russian help with Iran’s nuclear program.

Zelensky also noted that Israel’s neutrality in Ukraine’s conflict with Russia is long standing. “It seems that [the decision] was adopted a long time ago—in 2014, when Russia began its aggression against Ukraine, the decision ‘not to annoy’ the Kremlin,” he stated.

Israelis say that they cannot arm Ukraine because they cannot afford to alienate Russia, as they need to be able to hit targets in Syria, and Russia controls the skies there.

However, Russia’s military intervention in Syria began in 2015, while already in 2014, Israel had adopted

Secular vs. Islamic Regimes

Israelis have long maintained that a sharp division exists between secular and religious regimes, and the former cannot work with the latter. It was linked to the Arab-Israeli “peace process,” which became the central concern in the Middle East of successive US administrations after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Indeed, after the 1992 election of Itzhak Rabin as Prime Minister, it became a near-dogma among Israelis secular and religious entities could not work together. Rabin divided the Middle East into the “partners for peace”—i.e. secular regimes—and the enemies of peace—Islamic extremists, as if some wall existed between them.

For example, in 1994, at the height of the “peace process,” after Rabin had won the Nobel Peace Prize for the agreement with the PLO, known as the Oslo Accords, he affirmed, “Even Syria and Lebanon, the governments there with which we negotiate are those who support peace,” while “the enemies of peace are the members of the movements and the organizations that belong to the ugly wave of extremism, fanaticism, fundamentalist terrorist Islamic movements. They are the enemies of peace, and in their lead is Iran.”

But that was overly simplistic. Islamic extremists are, to be sure, generally bad actors, But that does not make secular regimes good actors and both can work together. And, notably, Syria never made peace with Israel, while the agreement with the PLO never produced peace!

Yet it was that concept that caused Israelis to oppose the 2003 US-led war in Iraq that ousted Saddam Hussein in favor of a war that would oust the Iranian regime. If the decision had been theirs to make, Saddam (or a son) would still be ruling in Baghdad.

A similar misconception may have underlined Israel’s attitude toward Russia, including a failure to recognize the dangers that Moscow could pose, among them an alignment with its arch-enemy, Iran.