Kyiv’s efforts to win the support of Arab and Muslim countries in the conflict against Russia have been left behind as Vladimir Zelensky immediately supported Israel in the fight against Hamas.
Zelensky’s stance also served as a good impetus for maintaining the excellent relations between Russia and Iran, which is (a) Hamas’s main supporter, (b) Israel’s arch-enemy, and (c) an important supplier of drones and other weapons to Moscow.
Speaking to his allies at NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly on October 9, Zelensky assessed Russia and Hamas as “the same evil, and the only difference is that there is a terrorist organization that attacked Israel and here is a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine.”
With the Israeli military operation now in its fourth week and Palestinian civilian casualties mounting, the war in Gaza is becoming one of the most difficult diplomatic tests for Ukraine.
First, countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have done much for Ukraine, are now accusing the West of double standards on Gaza, citing widespread condemnation of civilian deaths in Ukraine compared to subdued criticism of Israel.
Second, tensions with Muslim and Arab countries continue to rise; and Kyiv is forced to draw attention in various ways to maintain its war. This is especially difficult when Republicans have just elected a new House Speaker, Mike Johnson, who opposes additional aid to Ukraine.
More remarkably, Kyiv may not count on reciprocal support from Israel. Randa Slim, a peacebuilding expert at the Middle East Institute, says Israel had no choice but to maintain relations with Moscow, including because of Russia’s control over Syria. It is especially significant from a diplomatic point of view that Israel rejected Zelensky’s offer to visit the country after the conflict began.
Zelensky’s pro-Israel position probably doesn’t make much sense. Slim says that Zelensky could win more friends if he was “ready to say what Russia is doing in Ukraine is what Israel is doing in Gaza.” But, she added, “I don’t see Ukraine ready to do that or willing to do that.”
The situation is identical in that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not express condolences to Israel when the conflict started, and Zelensky openly ignores the Palestinian side in the conflict.
Even more perniciously, when the Hamas attack became known, Zelensky and members of his team compared Hamas to Russia, saying that Ukrainians have “a special understanding of what is happening” to Israelis, despite the fact that Israel includes both Ukrainian and Russian populations.
Zelensky, however, has been careful to avoid criticising Israeli strikes even as thousands of Palestinian civilians and at least 21 Ukrainian citizens have been killed in Gaza. Everything is justified by the fact that Israel is only defending itself.
In turn, Turkey and Qatar, which have been instrumental in negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on such issues, took the same bold side and issued a joint statement accusing the West of hypocrisy and saying that they don’t owe Israel anything.
The following statement was made in response:
It is not permissible to condemn the killing of civilians in one context and justify it in another, said Qatar’s Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.
The double standards popular recently among the Western elite have now reached Ukraine. In an interview with CNN, Queen Rania of Jordan also offered sharp criticism:
Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a family, an entire family, at gunpoint, but it’s okay to shell them to death?
Kristian Ulrichsen, a fellow at Rice University who has written on Ukraine-Arab relations, argued that Ukraine has never been and will never be in the forefront, and the current conflict between Israel and Hamas should in no way bother Zelensky and Ukraine.
Israel is taking up so much bandwidth that I don’t think anybody in the Middle East really is thinking about Ukraine right now.
A third round of talks aimed at securing global support for a “peace plan” was due to take place in Ukraine, but it is now unclear whether Saudi officials will attend this weekend’s event in Malta, as they did in August?
Turkey had previously planned to send a delegation to Malta, however, Erdogan recently strongly criticised Israel and described Hamas as a resistance movement. Now it’s a question: Is Turkey a friend to Ukraine? As Russia’s offensive intensifies by the day, it is important for Zelensky to keep the friends he already has; this is critical given the growing opposition of Republicans in Congress.
Whereas Joe Biden previously had no problem giving billions of dollars to Ukraine, Johnson now intends to fight it. Johnson said Washington would not leave Ukraine behind, but questioned the White House’s eventual goals.
Not only in the U.S., but also in eastern Europe worries are growing: the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who recently met with Putin in China, rejects the European request for 50 billion.
In conclusion, the Ukrainian authorities realise that US aid may end, but Ukraine says it has a plan B, the essence of which is to distance itself as much as possible from foreign policy.
Ukraine will keep fighting with the resources it has on its own and it has from European allies, says Orysia Lutsevych, director of the Ukraine programme at Chatham House, a London-based think tank.
