okay this I had to put it all to words and it had taken me a bit:
The first thing that should be said - if there were some Ukrainians who got hurt by this, As the Israeli here I can tell you that hurting Ukrainians or any other nation, animals, people or belongings were not meant to be hurt.
Second - I'm never against Ze but right now, it's seriously not the time. But it is a time to talk with Pootin.
Sadly because he is still in power, and he is still has a hold in the Middle East (ME from now on). P has his forces in Syria and he does have close relations with Iran, who is funding the Hamas. As far as I know, and I'm trying to consume as little news as possible and stay informed with the dry-details only, this is the "money time" to release the 199+ captives in Gaza, and Israel does everything that is in its power, EVERYTHING, to minimize the suffer of the captives, the scale of hurt in ground invasion, the scale of suffer of the people in Gaza which are innocents and are not to blame. Israeli is talking to everyone in the area to de-escalate the situation right now - from Egypt to Qatar, China, Thailand, Russia to Saudia, so talking to P is definitely a tool that we need to use right now.
Israel is an incredibly small country. Obviously you know that, but I'm not sure everyone )understand the scale: I live in Jerusalem and my parents live closer to Tel Aviv. We joke here that boths cities are worlds apart, but in truth - they are 1 hour away from each other. By car. Driving from Jlem to the northen border is 2.5-3 hours, and from here to Eilat is about 4 hours max. In comparison - according to gmaps it is over 6 hours drive from Brandenburger Tor in Berlin to the Allianz Arena in Munchen, and it's 40 hours between the Empire State Building in NYC to Santa Monica Pier in California. This country is so small, that it's incredibly hard to protect him in this crazy time. Rockets are still flying over the airport as I write this. We ourselves are basically out of our minds right now, and the national efforts are going towards the war. Can Israel guarantee the safety of Ze right now? Nope. Can the US take full responsibility for his safety? It's up to them to answer that.
How can his visit help right now? It can help unite the people who are fighting against terrorism - yes. BUT -
I don't think it's a good thing for him right now. The ME is one of the most controversial topics in the last century, is it smart to link the war in Ukraine into this ME mess?
Of course it's related. Terrorism is always related to one another. But the level of mess is crazy. The hatred towards Israel, Israelis and Jews is in an INSANE height. The level of the current tension is like the first weeks in Feb and March of 2022 in Ukraine. All nerves are completely strained everywhere, is it really the time for him to come over here?
Yes he is a Jew and he has relatives and friends here. I don't think there's a Jew outside Israel that doesn't know someone who knows someone who is in Israel right now (this nation has the mentality of a large family..). The news are devastating, of course he wants to visit and help. The horrors that happened here in October 7th are about Bucha level, if not worse. I'm saying that with the utmost respect to the victims of Bucha. Ze, as the caring person he is, wants to help and offer his sympathy. It's more than appreciated here but I think for him it will be better in a few weeks when the situation is more clear and hopefully peaceful.
Biden, Blinken and Austin.
Their visits, as much as I'd like to think that are about raising the morale of us Israelis, is more about planning the next steps - what's the strategy now? What is Israel doing with the humanitarian situation in Gaza? What's about Hezbollah in Lebanon? What about the captives? Iranian involvement - this is why they are coming here. It's a 10 hours flight, and as much as I want to flatter myself and my country - it's not just to make us feel better. (Even thought it helps a TON in the morale department and I'm incredibly grateful!!!)
Baerbock and Scholtz's visits - dunno what that's about. I assume it's to say that Germany support Israel, unlike 80y ago. Maybe help with the international efforts of releasing the captives?I have no definite answer.
I hope I made sense in this crazy time.