The same could be said for American elites, as neo-isolationism crept steadily into the foreign-policy debates on both left and right. With wars still raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of America’s partners feared another intervention. Obama sought international support to attack Syria, but he found little. In 2013, the Syrian strongman dropped sarin gas on East Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing more than 1,400. With the regime nearing collapse, Obama warned Assad not to cross America’s “red line” of using chemical weapons.

Assad attempted to repel them with Shiite militias supplied by Iran. The war attracted Sunni extremists worldwide. The country was writhing in a civil war that had erupted during the 2011 Arab Spring. On September 30, 2015, Russia sent its first squadron of fighter jets to Syria to support the embattled Assad regime. And a possible new iteration of the Iran nuclear deal would only make things worse. If anything, America’s attempted pivot out of the Middle East has complicated Israel’s situation. Washington has yet to offer Israel a way out. President Barack Obama’s red-line debacle of 2013-the failure to remove Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad from power after he used chemical weapons against his own people-enabled Putin to control the Syrian skies. Israel’s critics have conveniently forgotten that America placed the Jewish state in a terrible security conundrum nearly a decade ago. In a cruel twist of fate, Putin holds the key to those sorties. Israel must therefore constantly interdict these weapons. Their goal is to lay waste to Israel in a forthcoming clash. More urgently, Israel has hunted the lethal weapons systems that the Islamic Republic of Iran is smuggling to Hezbollah, its most powerful terrorist proxy in Lebanon. For nearly a decade, Israel has operated in Syria to prevent Iran from installing Shiite militias and military hardware within firing range of Israel’s borders. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) needs Russian cooperation to operate in the skies over Syria, which Putin’s Russia patrols with advanced anti-aircraft systems. The Jewish state actually co-sponsored the resolution, firmly placing the country among other democracies and liberal societies, where it belongs. Israel also voted on March 2 at the United Nations to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett volunteered to mediate between Vladimir Putin and Zelensky-and he was the first world leader to sit with Putin face-to-face, in an effort to convince the Russian strongman to end his war of aggression.

But it’s not as if Israel has done nothing. It also declined to send weapons to Ukraine. It is true that Israel balked at sanctions targeting oligarchs and select elements of Russia’s financial sector. There are moments when one cannot stay quiet, and today, now, is exactly one of these moments.” Former prime minister Ehud Olmert slammed the government for failing to oppose Russia meaningfully. In the face of such injustice, we cannot simply choose not to listen. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai stated that the Russian attacks on Ukraine “clearly demonstrate an ongoing atrocity. Prominent Israeli figures piled on as well. Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) went so far as to say that the United States should effectively end its alliance with the Jewish state “unless Israel supplies arms to Ukraine in the fight against the Russian invasion.” He later reversed his position, but others have not. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) proclaimed he was “very disappointed” that Israel was not arming Ukraine. Some of Israel’s staunchest supporters in America also questioned Israel’s policy as Russia devastated Ukraine. “One can ask for a long time why we can’t accept weapons from you or why Israel didn’t impose sanctions against Russia, why you are not putting pressure on Russian business,” Zelensky said. He chided the Israelis for not doing enough to help his country. Zelensky, a Jew, likened the plight of his people to the Holocaust. In between dodging assassination attempts, inspiring his people to fight back against invading Russian forces, and conversing with world leaders, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky took time out to address the Knesset on March 20.

Hammer and anvil