Zev Chafets, Columnist

Why Israel Should Stay Out of the Ukraine Conflict

The country has interests on all sides, but can’t afford to ignore Russia’s case here.

February 3, 2022 at 12:48 PM UTC

Zev Chafets is a journalist and author of 14 books. He was a senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the founding managing editor of the Jerusalem Report Magazine.

Israel’s border fence with Syria in the Golan Heights — Israel’s border fence with Syria in the Golan Heights
Photographer: JALAA MAREY/AFP

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday. According to the State Department’s read-out of the conversation, they discussed “shared challenges, in the face of potential Russian aggression against Ukraine.”

It’s not clear what, if anything, Blinken is hoping for from Israel. But two days later, Israeli radio, quoting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, reported that Ukraine is seeking to buy Israeli cyber- and air-defense systems. That may be what Blinken had in mind, but taking a side in this conflict is very clearly not in Israel's national interest.