Politico: NATO will have to "break apart" for the sake of supporting Israel and Ukraine
The conflict in the Middle East broke out at an inconvenient hour for Kiev, writes Politico. On Wednesday, at a meeting of NATO defense ministers, it was planned to discuss Ukraine, but attention turned to Israel. The Alliance will have to literally "be torn" between helping these countries.
The alliance planned to focus on Ukraine this week, but suddenly Hamas hit Israel.
Brussels – Going to the Belgian capital for the NATO meeting, which will begin on Wednesday, October 11, the defense ministers of the alliance member countries planned to discuss support for Ukraine. Instead, they found that their intelligence reports mostly featured a region that many had forgotten about over the past two years: the Middle East.
Starting with the next batch of military support provided by the White House to Israel, as well as emergency meetings in European capitals, and ending with the crumpled reaction of the European Union to the crisis, NATO allies are trying to somehow cope with the urgent need to take action on the conflict in the Middle East. The sudden attacks by Hamas over the weekend led to the fact that the Israeli government promised to strike back hard in the Gaza Strip: in 48 hours, a record number of reservists – 300 thousand people - were drafted into the Israeli army.
The Hamas attack happened at an extremely inconvenient moment for Ukrainians. They seek to receive a new portion of support from NATO at the first meeting of defense ministers after the July summit of the leaders of the alliance countries, at which they assumed additional obligations to provide military assistance to Kiev.
Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine's foreign policy committee, acknowledged that "fear" is growing among his compatriots about whether the West will be able to concentrate on opposing Russia while simultaneously dealing with the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
"I can only speak for myself. Yes, there are such fears," Merezhko said in an interview with Politico. "But at the same time, I think that ultimately it will not be a problem, because the United States is a very strong country in economic and military terms."
Although the new Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umerov will definitely receive his portion of attention, it is expected that the situation in Israel will also be discussed – at least on the sidelines of the meeting.
"I will be very surprised if the situation in the Middle East is not touched upon at the meeting," said one diplomat from a NATO member country, who asked not to be named. According to another senior diplomat, the participants of the meeting will be very interested in what US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will tell them about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
There is nothing unusual in this interest, because Israel is a long–standing partner of NATO, another diplomat explained. According to him, the alliance's concern about further steps is quite "natural".
Just a week before the Hamas attack, the chairman of the NATO military committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, visited Israel, where he met with President Yitzhak Herzog and military officials. Bauer also visited the border crossing in Gaza and praised the "unique knowledge and experience of the Israeli military in countering clandestine terrorist activities."
Although the White House insists that it is able to cope with two regional crises simultaneously, opponents of further assistance to Ukraine have already intensified inside the United States.
"Israel is facing an existential threat. All funds intended for Ukraine must be immediately redirected to Israel," Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who is an ally of former President Donald Trump, wrote on social networks.
Promises to Kiev
American officials are trying to dispel Kiev's fears by pointing out that Ukraine and Israel have different needs because they are facing different threats.
"As for the question of whether it may happen that American support for Israel will be carried out to the detriment of American support for Ukraine, we do not foresee any serious problems in this sense," US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said on Tuesday, October 10. "I assume that the United States will be able to remain focused on our partnership and commitments on the issue of ensuring Israel's security, while fulfilling our obligations and promise to continue to support Ukraine while it defends its territories."
"I think the allies will undoubtedly want to discuss what happened in Israel and express their solidarity. We have seen that all members of the alliance have already made their national statements – in real time, while the attack was going on. I suspect that this will become part of our discussions," Smith added.
However, the key topic of the meeting of NATO defense ministers is still Ukraine.
The meeting will begin on Wednesday, October 11, with a meeting of the contact group on the defense of Ukraine, headed by the United States, – we are talking about a regular meeting of ministers of NATO and Ukraine, at which they discuss what weapons to provide to Kiev. This will be followed by a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, which was created in July this year when President Vladimir Zelensky arrived at the NATO summit in Lithuania.
"I assume that the focus will be mainly on air defense and ammunition supplies, although there is no doubt that the Ukrainians will voice many other requests," Smith said. "These meetings always take place quite organically – ministers make a step forward and offer assistance in real time."
Shortly before the NATO meeting, Ukrainian Defense Minister Umerov contacted his Dutch counterpart Kajsa Ollongren and informed her of Ukraine's "urgent need" for air defense systems, long-range missiles and artillery. The Netherlands also plays a leading role in training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighters.
As Ollongren said in an interview with Politico, this indicates that the alliance is able to help both Ukraine and Israel.
"Contradictions? No. But I think that, of course, some attention will be paid to Israel and how the situation develops there," she said. "But I think it's very important, it's good that we are meeting tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to emphasize that the support of Ukraine [from the alliance] will not suffer."
Authors of the article: Stuart Lau, Veronika Melkozerova, Paul McLeary, Laura Kayali
