Tonight, Iranian and Russian Weapons Terrorize Civilians in Two Countries
Our partners in Israel and Ukraine are willing to die for their freedom and to preserve world stability. We contribute the weapons, and they contribute the lives of their very best people.
The Israelis and people of the Jewish faith were among the first people on the ground in Ukraine after the full scale Russian invasion. Seriously, I worked with at least half a dozen Jewish and Israeli organizations during the first 90 days of the war.
This photo was taken in Kyiv on March 27, 2022 when the city was under siege. Israeli and Jewish groups preceded the International Committee of the Red Cross by weeks.
Tonight, more than 18 months later, both countries are being terrorized by Russian and Iranian weapons.
But despite their own country being at war, my Ukrainian friends are all talking about the horrors in Israel. They say they feel it in their bones. Electronic billboards around Kyiv are ablaze with the Israeli flag.
The world is incredibly unstable right now. Russia, Iran, China, North Korea and others are working together to increase the instability. The coalition of chaos.
Evidence is currently emerging that Russia at least passively supported last week’s attacks by Hamas. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board reports on an interview with senior Hamas official Ali Baraka.
”Ali Baraka also said that Hamas has a license from Russia to produce Kalashnikov bullets and that Russia is sympathetic to Hamas and likes the war with Israel because it complicates U.S. aid for Ukraine.”
MEMRI, the NGO that does excellent work reporting on news in Arabic and other non-English languages, translated the interview Baraka. Below is an excerpt.
”Even Russia sympathizes with us. Even the Russians sent us messages yesterday morning. They sympathize with us. Russia is happy that America is getting embroiled in Palestine. It alleviates the pressure on the Russians in Ukraine. One war eases the pressure in another war. So we are not alone on the battlefield."
Iran’s support of Hamas is well-documented, as are Russia’s arms deals with Iran. Media reports indicate that Putin delivered $145 million in cash to Tehran along with a few captured U.S. weapons for Iran to reverse engineer in exchange for Iranian weapons. Iran makes a lot of money from oil, but it must be convenient to have a few dozen pallets of cash lying around to fund Hamas’s operation.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and Putin’s less charming alter ego, did not miss a beat, giving this classic Soviet-era misinformation statement hours after the Hamas slaughter of civilians started:
“But instead of actively working at Palestinian-Israeli settlement, these morons [America] have interfered with us, and are providing the neo-Nazis with full-scale aid, pitting the two closely related peoples against each other,” he continued. “What can stop America’s manic obsession to incite conflicts all over the planet?”
This is coming from the folks who have invaded Ukraine twice, Chechnya twice, Georgia once and have been flaming wars in Syria, Mali, the Central African Republic and several other places. And that is counting nothing from the Soviet Union.
Tonight, we have courageous partners in Israel and Ukraine that are willing to die for their freedom. All our partners ask is that we provide the weapons. We contribute the weapons, and they contribute the lives of their very best people. It has cost us less than 5% of the annual budget of the U.S. Department of Defense.
I feel like this is going to get worse before it gets better. I am concerned that if we don't supply weapons now, soon we may have to start supplying the lives of our best people as well.