Putin and Netanyahu are both on barbaric crusades. Why is our response to each man so different?

There are some striking parallels between the tragic continuing events in Palestine and Ukraine, as well as significant differences, as there are between any two conflicts. But the comparison between the two situations poses stark and troubling questions for the global community about consistency and hypocrisy.
The most fundamental parallel between the two situations concerns, in each case, the taking-over by one country of land that belongs to another people. In the case of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this could not be more obvious. The military occupation of large tracts of Ukrainian territory was followed by the Putin government’s declaration that Russia was “annexing” several Ukrainian regions that they would henceforth consider part of Russia. Putin’s war aims also include the remainder of Ukraine being placed permanently under effective Russian domination, denying the Ukrainian people their right to independence and the protection of western values.
The Israeli invasion of Gaza, on the other hand, was not similarly gratuitous. It was a response to the outrageous Hamas atrocities last October. However, if the Hamas attack was the immediate trigger for Israel’s current actions, the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict did not begin in 2023. The fundamental underlying problem, not dissimilar to that of Ukraine, remains the denial by Israel of the Palestinian people’s inalienable right, fully equal to the right of the Israeli people, to their own land and country.
The scale of this outrage is reflected in the vast number ofIsraeli settlers, perhaps now heading towards three quarters of a million, who have been supported militarily and financially to build their homes on occupied Palestinian land over which Israel has no moral, legal or historical rights. It is reflected also in the widespread injustice and violence inflicted on Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories over many years, starting long before last year’s Hamas atrocities and continuing relentlessly since then. References by Israeli government spokespeople to the occupied Palestinian lands by the biblical terms “Judea and Samaria” reflect a similar mentality to that of Putin purporting to “annex” Ukrainian land.
Another similarity between the two conflicts is the determining role played by the egos of Binyamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin. They are two individuals who have made personal choices that have brought their countries to where they are today and seem determined to perpetuate the conflicts for personal survival and advantage. Netanyahu’s refusal to show the flexibility necessary to achieve a ceasefire has been condemned in Israel and around the world. His own self-image and political self-preservation matter more to him than Israel’s interests, including the safe release of the remaining hostages, or than salvaging his country’s already deeply damaged international reputation.
In the absence of any real democracy in Russia, including the ruthless imprisonment of critics of the war, it is hard to judge what internal debates may be taking place there, but Ukraine remains Putin’s personal crusade. His reputation and future depend on its outcome.
It is noteworthy also that the International Court of Justice has become involved in aspects of both cases, issuing, for example, an opinion confirming the obvious fact that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land is illegal. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Putin and is considering one against Netanyahu.
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The brutality against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and Gaza, and now also Lebanon, represents another barbaric parallel between the conflicts. The daily footage from Gaza is almost unbearable to watch – the death and suffering inflicted on countless civilians who are every bit as innocent as those murdered and mutilated by Hamas last October. The relentless targeting of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, with the inevitable loss of civilian lives, is likewise appalling, illegal and heartbreaking.
Curiously, Russia refers to what is obviously a war as a “special military operation”, whereas Netanyahu uses the term “war” to describe what in Gaza looks more like a “special military operation”, in which one side has overwhelming military strength and the majority of victims are women and children.
The broad similarities between the Ukrainian and Palestinian conflicts pose a serious challenge of consistency for the global community. If countries are not consistent, they leave themselves open to the charge of hypocrisy.
There are many countries – and a sprinkling of people in Ireland who consider themselves to be “anti-war” – that roundly condemn Israel but are happy to give Putin’s war a free pass. Iran, for example, trumpets its opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza but supplies weapons to Putin. On the other hand, there are those – notably the US and some European countries – who stand resolutely by Ukraine, including with practical military and financial assistance, but who are prepared to tolerate the utterly disproportionate Israeli actions in Gaza and are unwilling to use effectively the levers at their disposal to help to bring that mayhem and destruction to an end.
All support for Ukraine in its existential fight for survival, from whatever source, is to be commended. Equally, all support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and for determined international pressure to achieve justice for the Palestinians, is utterly laudable. However, consistency of policy towards the two conflicts – such as that broadly reflected in Ireland’s approach – would make that support, in both cases, both more plausible and more effective.
Bobby McDonagh is a former ambassador to London, Rome and Brussels