Why is it that one of America’s strongest allies and usual supporter of all things Western has refused to stand by sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea? For Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, columnist Mariusz Zawadzki writes that the answer is simple: Israel, too, has annexed nearby territory, and been widely condemned for it – in East Jerusalem.
For the Gazeta Wyborcza, Mariusz Zawadzki starts this way:
President Obama condemns Russia for annexing Crimea, yet one of America’s friends remains silent on this outrageous subject, or is at least has being evasive.
We refer here to Israel, which only a week after the occupation of the peninsula by Russian troops, issued a statement saying that it is “following developments in Ukraine with great concern, and hope that the crisis to be resolved peacefully.” Not a word of condemnation for aggression! Oleksandr Feldman, a Ukrainian lawmaker who was in Jerusalem at the time, didn’t hide his disappointment. “We were expecting a clearer stance,” he said.
Then last Thursday [Apr. 3], when the U.N. General Assembly condemned the annexation of Crimea, Israel was among the 58 countries that didn’t participate in the vote. How is it possible that in a conflict that puts in doubt the entire global order, one of America’s key allies remained neutral? Where are all those universal values about which Obama spoke so beautifully in Brussels?
At the first glance, this seems strange, but if you think about it for a moment, one has to praise the Israelis for not being hypocrites. Since they themselves have conducted an annexation, it’s only natural and respectful for them not to condemn Putin.
I am speaking about East Jerusalem, which was incorporated into Israel in 1980, or 13 years after victory in the Six Day War.
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