Don't be fooled by the rockets that I got...

There is a push to shift America’s focus from Ukraine to Israel.

“We can’t afford to support both,” you might hear.

Democrats are largely united on supporting Ukraine, but seem divided on supporting Israel. Republicans are united in their support for Israel, but divided on support to Ukraine.

Supporting both is well within our national interests and within our capacity. We need “both…and” thinking, not “either…or.”

Israel suffered a tremendous, brutal, and unjustified attack last week from Iranian-backed Hamas. This attack killed more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians—women and children. Israel’s response has been measured and just.

For our part, the United States has long backed Israel. Israel has historically been the greatest recipient of U.S. security assistance. As of 2021, the United States had provided Israel with:

• $125 Billion in bilateral assistance since 1948
• a memorandum of understanding that we’ll continue providing $3 billion in foreign military financing (FMF) and $500 million in cooperative programs for missile defense through 2028
• $3.4 billion for missile defense including $1.3 billion for the Iron Dome system beginning in 2011
• 629 open foreign military sales (FMS) cases worth $23.2 billion
• access to our most advanced technology including F-35 Lightnings, V-22 Ospreys, joint direct attack munitions (JDAMs), etc
• classification as a Major Non-NATO Ally and
• much, much more

I think it’s also critical for us to acknowledge that Hamas does not represent an existential threat to Israel. The attack was horrific. We stand in solidarity with Israel, and we can rest assured that they will make good use of the materiel and support we’ve historically provided. Israel will succeed in reducing Hamas. Of course, should Iran choose to become directly involved, then the threat to the existence of Israel grows dramatically, but Hamas (and even Lebanese Hezbollah) cannot threaten the existence of Israel.

In fact, terrorism rarely proves an existential threat to a state. Al Qaeda did not on 9/11, and Hamas does not today.

By contrast, Russia absolutely poses an existential threat to Ukraine.

We cannot allow ourselves to lose sight of the threat that Russia still poses to Ukraine, to Europe, and to the global order. We must continue to support both Israel in rooting out terrorism and Ukraine in providing a bulwark against Russian expansionism.

Supporting both will tax us, particularly as we also support Taiwan and our Pacific allies and as we prepare our own country for potential conflict. We need innovative solutions to our manufacturing and production capabilities. We need partnerships across the government, academia, and industry. We must…

Keep building!

Andrew