The False Choice Between Ukraine and Israel
Americans are uneasy as war returns to another part of the world, and Washington is slow to confront the growing danger. Priority No. 1 is an all-out national effort to expand U.S.
weapons production, with a focus and urgency akin to the 1940s arsenal of democracy. President Biden hinted Tuesday that he may ask Congress for appropriations for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. That makes military and political sense.
The U.S. is confronting an authoritarian axis that is increasingly working together. Iran, the ventriloquist for Hamas, is helping Vladimir Putin as he tries to subjugate Ukraine.
Tehran is pouring drones into Russia’s war, and the Biden Administration has warned of deepening cooperation, including a new weapons plant in Russia. The two are allies in Syria. Mr.
Putin is also dining out on his “no limits" partnership with the Chinese Communist Party. The axis wants to set the rules of the world and topple the relative global stability the U.S. has enforced since World War II.
Yet some in Congress want to separate Israel from Ukraine and force a false choice. “Israel is facing existential threat. Any funding for Ukraine should be redirected to Israel immediately," GOP Missouri Sen.
Josh Hawley tweeted this week. The Heritage Foundation is encouraging lawmakers to “resist attempts to link emergency military support for Israel with additional funding for Ukraine." The implication is that the U.S. can’t supply both at once.
But the two conflicts are different enough that the U.S. has weapons that can help Ukraine and Israel. The Ukrainians are trying to break through entrenched defenses of concrete and mines, a different job than destroying Hamas in Gaza.
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