The war: What should Israel do?

are significant Jewish dimensions to the crisis ignited by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Feb. 24 — the plight of Ukrainian Jews, Ukraine’s Jewish president and Vladimir Putin’s insistence that the Ukrainian government is a “Nazi” one. Then there is Israel, something of a wild card relating to the war. Israel’s response to the invasion has been criticized by some for being slow and lukewarm. It initially failed to support a UN condemnation but then decided to join a more extensive one several days later. Its prime minister, Naftali Bennett, seemed reluctant to condemn Russia while his eventual successor, Yair Lapid, was clear and resolute in his condemnation [story, page 3]. Israel’s economic ties to Russia may be one reason for the variance, but then there […]