Almost without exception, lawmakers from both parties in the U.S. Congress are eager to give Israel whatever it asks, from missiles to dollars. And that is as it should be, for Israel just became the victim of unspeakable barbarity and now needs stalwart support.
But in the very next breath, some of those same U.S. legislators, mainly Republican extremists in the House who are beholden to former president Donald Trump, want to deny Ukraine what that beleaguered country needs to survive as a nation. These MAGA demagogues don’t want to accept that Ukraine too is the victim of unimaginable — and indeed genocidal — aggression. Point out the inconsistency and they’ll protest indignantly that the two conflicts mustn’t be linked, for they are, as a far-right think tank puts it, "separate and distinct.”
Distinct they may be, and yet perhaps not so separate anymore. There’s a practical way in which support for Ukraine and Israel may be about to become conflated. The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is thinking of bundling both into one package in Congress, thinking that the only way to keep money, ammo and guns flowing to Ukraine is to tie this help to support for Israel. If the House Republicans were less chaotic and less Trumpy — more like the Senate Republicans — this step wouldn’t even be necessary.