Maybe it’s my Jewish bias, but it feels like any time a major news event happens anywhere in the world, it’s simply a matter of time before someone finds a way to make it about Israel. No matter the circumstances, no matter how unrelated the event is to Israel and the Jewish people, the discourse, especially among the mainstream commentariat , eventually finds a way back to the world's only Jewish state. 

Uiyghurs being put in prison camps thousands of miles away? Must be something to do with Israel.

Systemic injustice in American policing? They must have been trained in Israel.

And the most recent conflict is Ukraine is of course, no different. There’s been a slew of high profile armchair observers that seem increasingly concerned with whether or not Israel falls in line with the rest of the West. 

Just yesterday for example, Andrew Neil posted on Twitter: ”Israel fails to stand up for Ukraine. Reluctant to impose sanctions on Russia. Still allowing flights from Russia but ended visa-free travel for Ukrainians. Stayed silent after Russian airstrike near Babi Yar memorial, where German Nazis killed tens of thousands of Jews in WW2.”

Israel fails to stand up for Ukraine. Reluctant to impose sanctions on Russia. Still allowing flights from Russia but ended visa-free travel for Ukrainians. Stayed silent after Russian airstrike near Babi Yar memorial, where German Nazis killed tens of thousands of Jews in WW2.

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) March 22, 2022

Now aside from the glaring factual errors, which have been pointed out by numerous Israeli journalists, this tweet and similar critiques feel like another classic case of making something not about Israel about Israel. In the same way that when certain left-wing journalists strain themselves making connections to the Jewish state, the attitude of “why won’t Israel step in line” has a slight whiff of western narcissism rearing its ugly head. 

In many ways, Israel has been hugely supportive of Western efforts to stop Russian aggression. Israel has repeatedly condemned the invasion of Ukraine, voted against Russia at the UN and blocked Oligarchs like Roman Abramovich keeping their planes in Israel, all while the Russian army is on manoeuvres in Syria, just a short MiG flight away. 

But while Israel clearly an ally to the West in this critical time, it’s important to note that there should be no obligation that the Jewish state blindly follows the UK and US regardless of its own interests. As with all sovereign nations, Israel is only accountable to its own people, when Israeli politicians make decisions during a war with global implications, they shouldn’t need to consider what will make the Fleet Street commentariat happy.  

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1505868872850759683

At the end of the day, whatever the state of Israel does, there will always be critics. There will always be those that seek to make everything about Israel. I suspect even if, as has been suggested, Naftali Bennett ends up playing a role in successfully mediating the end of the conflict, people will still have a problem with that too.