Ruthie Blum
JNS, Mar. 2, 2025
“Israel, in particular, would do well to examine the strategic implications of this shift before rushing to judgment. While Ukraine’s plight is tragic, it is Jerusalem—not Kyiv—that sits at the heart of the most critical global conflict.”
The collective gasp that erupted on Friday across European capitals—and echoed in certain circles in Jerusalem—was warranted. Never before had a confrontation like the one between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office been so public, and so raw.
Even Trump couldn’t help noting at the end of the verbal brawl that it made for good television. He got that right. The exchange promptly went viral on every social-media platform.
For the past two days, analysts the world over have been weighing in on how the nearly hour-long meeting/impromptu press conference—in the presence of Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a slew of reporters—suddenly turned sour after a very civil, even friendly, start. The argument has two parts.
One is over decorum, with Ukraine sympathizers accusing Vance of instigating an ambush that Trump enthusiastically joined. The other centers on substance—the terms and wisdom of the “peace” deal Trump is trying to broker between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As for the first, whatever position one holds on the war in Ukraine, Zelenskyy’s behavior was totally out of line. In fact, it was he who caught his hosts by surprise and not the other way around.
Indeed, he had indicated that the purpose of his visit to the White House—at his own request, by the way—was to sign an agreement for a joint U.S.-Ukraine investment in the latter’s rare-earth mineral and other resources. But he made it clear in front of the media that it wasn’t sufficient to guarantee Kyiv’s security vis-à-vis Moscow. ….SOURCE