Zelenskyy appeals to Jewish sentiment in address to Israeli lawmakers
“Our people are now wandering in the world, seeking security as you once did.”
JERUSALEM — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine appealed to the sentiments of Jewish Israelis but also criticized Israeli policies Sunday in a virtual address to lawmakers that touched on the most painful periods of Jewish history and what he called the parallel experiences of the Ukrainian people.
The address was set up to be emotionally charged: President Vladimir Putin of Russia has branded the Ukrainian government “pro-Nazi” and controlled by “little Nazis,” even though Zelenskyy is Jewish.
Zelenskyy, for his part, has thanked the Israeli leader, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, for his mediation efforts with Russia but has also castigated the Israeli government for not taking a strong enough moral stand on Ukraine’s side — a position he reiterated Sunday.
“It is possible to mediate between countries,” Zelenskyy said in his 10-minute address, during which he spoke Ukrainian, “but not between good and evil.”
Zelenskyy appeared to make comparisons between the current suffering of the Ukrainians and that of the Jews during the Holocaust — an equation that some Israeli lawmakers later said went a step too far.
He asked why Israel had refused to provide Ukraine with weapons like Iron Dome, Israel’s vaunted anti-rocket missile defense system, and asked Israel to take in more refugees.
“Our people are now wandering in the world, seeking security,” he said, “as you once did.”
Israel has refused Ukrainian requests to provide even defensive equipment such as helmets but has sent aid, including six large generators, and is in the process of setting up a field hospital in Mostyska, in western Ukraine.
More than 11,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived in Israel since the start of the war, the majority of them non-Jews. After initially limiting entry to 5,000 refugees, Israel’s interior minister, Ayelet Shaked, under public and political pressure, expanded the guidelines to offer temporary refuge to Ukrainian citizens who have relatives living in Israel, on the condition that they receive approval before boarding a plane to Israel.
Israel’s Supreme Court is hearing a petition against the limitations on the entry of refugees that was initiated by the Ukrainian ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk.
Israel’s Knesset, or Parliament, is currently in recess, and no special gathering was convened for Zelenskyy’s speech, so most of the 120 lawmakers and several ministers who do not sit in Parliament tuned in from their offices or homes. Since the assembly hall is undergoing renovations, the speaker of the Knesset, Mickey Levy, introduced Zelenskyy from a conference room in the Parliament building.
Zelenskyy’s speech was broadcast live on all the main television channels and was screened in a public square in Tel Aviv, where crowds had gathered. Many people were waving Ukrainian flags.
Zelenskyy has already addressed other assemblies, including the U.S. Congress, and the Canadian, British and Polish parliaments as well as the German Bundestag.
The lower-key event in Israel, with the lawmakers watching Zelenskyy’s address remotely on their own screens, was in keeping with Bennett’s balancing act aimed at also maintaining good relations with the Kremlin. Israel has a strong interest in being able to continue its military campaign against Iranian entrenchment in Syria, where Russia maintains a significant presence. In addition, Israeli officials have expressed concerns about the large Jewish community in Russia.
Russia’s ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov, had expressed Moscow’s displeasure with Israel’s intention to host Zelenskyy’s parliamentary address. In a meeting with Levy, the Parliament speaker, last week, Viktorov spoke of Russia’s main objectives in the conflict, including the “denazification and demilitarization” of Ukraine, according to the Russian Embassy in Israel, and discussed “the development of Russian-Israeli inter-parliamentary interaction,” according to the embassy.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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