Israel's New Right and Ukrainian Neo-Nazis

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/3/russia-says-israel-supports-neo-nazis-in-row-over-ukraine

I'm not sure why this is a controversy. Israel has a long history of collaborating with fascistic elements – especially when its own fascist party 'Likud' entered mainstream politics. Likud forged close ties with Apartheid South Africa and the nations found a kind of camaraderie in their pariah status, alliance with the United States, and their racial problems and perspectives.

The rise of Likud in the 1970's marked a shift in Israeli politics and with it the young nation embraced race-based policies with regard to the Palestinians. In some respects Israel under Likud became a dim reflection of what it most despised. And now under Naphtali Bennett's New Right, the policies have only been amplified as his party is actually more extreme than Likud.

Much has been made of Zelenskiy's Jewish heritage and yet his policies are in keeping with historic expressions of Ukrainian fascism. He defends the legacy of Nazi-collaborator and fascist Stepan Bandera and he supports Ukrainian nationalism. He has integrated Neo-fascist forces into the Ukrainian military, and Zelenskiy has also laboured to suppress the identity of the Russian population and has allied himself with the violent national elements that do the same. If Zelenskiy and the corrupt regime over which he presides were in Poland, Hungary, or the Balkans the West would be condemning him and producing hit pieces against him in the media. From his suppression of political opponents, to his censorship, and attempts to circumvent the courts – it continues to amaze that this figure has been made into the hero of the West, a liberal democratic saviour. It's ridiculous.

Russia's claims are hyped to be sure. The Ukrainian regime is not what the West presents but neither is it a reiteration of Bandera or the Nazis. And yet there are Nazis within the military structure of Ukraine, and again it must be reiterated that Zelenskiy, despite his Jewish identity, has worked to integrate these forces into the mainstream military apparatus. These elements are also funded by the United States and have received arms and training.

The Al Jazeera article does a better job than what is commonly encountered in Western media sources but it does fall into the same kind of rhetoric we've come to associate with revisionist historians like Timothy Snyder – who is in the process of selling out any claim he would have to being an objective historian. To appeal to Zelenskiy's Jewishness and the supposed democratic institutions of Ukraine is to miss the point – or more likely intentionally obfuscate the issues at hand.

Contrary to the arguments of some, the fact that Azov has been integrated into the Ukrainian military does not mean that the Nazi question is suddenly resolved. And as demonstrated with Likud (and its predecessor Irgun) the truth is that racism, fascism and Judaism have long co-existed even in a post-Holocaust world. Though these histories have largely disappeared down the memory hole, Lehi or The Stern Gang which was an offshoot of Irgun (which itself was described as fascistic) sought alliances with Mussolini and the Third Reich in order to gain support in fighting the British who under the 'Mandate' period was their primary enemy. They were absolute racists when it came to the question of the Palestinians.  Obviously this would-be alliance appears absurd in light of later events but it did happen. One member of the group, Yitzhak Shamir later served two terms as Prime Minister of Israel.

The fact that Lavrov and Putin have exaggerated the state of affairs in Ukraine does not mean that the media's coverage (and largely white-washing) of the Ukrainian government and Zelenskiy in particular is accurate or justified. And as far as Israel goes, the media's hypocrisy is stunning and patently conspiratorial. The American public doesn't understand what's happening there and in other cases does not want to understand. The cynical and misleading campaign to equate criticism of the Zionist state of Israel with anti-Semitism has proven successful and has led to a vibrant McCarthyism in some circles. And yet their claims are belied by the many Jews both within Israel and beyond its borders that oppose the Zionist state and in particular the fascistic and frankly racist policies of the Israeli Right.

We live in a world of lies and deceit.