The profound pain and trauma of war and displacement are very familiar to the Jewish people, who have been dealing with it for generations. They have been pushed out of their homes and communities by violence in service to ideologies of hatred; houses and temples have been leveled, schools and community centers destroyed, and future generations imperiled by genocidal murderers seeking to erase the Jewish people.

Jews still deal with this pain and trauma today — both from traditional antisemitism and also from attempts to delegitimize their indigeneity to their homeland, the land of Israel. Jews understand colonialism and conquest, and the creation of a revisionist history that conjures a non-existent supra-national identity to deny their connection to the land of their ancestors.

Jews understand the rantings of ethno-nationalist and religious fanatics who target them as an illegitimate “other,” and deny their right to any existence that is not in complete subservience to the conquering state.

Vladimir Putin is no different than the leaders of Iran, Hamas, or Hezbollah, and the Jewish people understand the brave men and women of Ukraine, who have put up a remarkable and astonishing fight for their homeland.

For Putin, there is no Ukraine. There is no Ukrainian language, history, or culture — no independence or right of self-determination. There is no democracy, no nation, and no people. For Putin, there is only Russia.

The Jewish people know what this means, just as they understand what “from the river to the sea” means. Putin’s call — like the call of Palestinian terror groups — is the rallying cry of conquest masquerading as social justice, an affront to the norms of civilized society. It denies the humanity of people who want nothing more than the freedom to live, work, and worship in peace and in freedom, secure in their homeland and in their dignity.

The Jewish people understand the horrors of a war inflicted by a diabolical adversary who wants to drive them from their homes and their homeland. The indiscriminate rocket attacks and shelling of populated civilian areas in Ukraine is something that the people of Israel experience almost daily — and they saw it on a similar scale just last May when Hamas attacked Israel. The specter of unprovoked violence is something that Jews live with every day, be it in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, or New York City, or Colleyville, Texas.

Jews understand what it means to be attacked by much larger neighbors, who demand that you give up your land, your identity, and your democratic ideals. They understand the brutality of oppression, and the frustration of a people, like the Ukrainians, who need ammunition, “not a ride.”

The Jewish people understand why Putin’s illegal war of aggression is called the moral test of our time. Compromise in the face of terrorism does not restore humanity, it erodes it. It is the ultimate abdication of our shared responsibility for the preservation of civilized society. There is no compromise with Putin, just as there is no compromise with rogue states like Iran or North Korea, or with terrorist groups like Hamas or the PFLP. Compromise means victory for them, and victory for them means the end of us.

We all understand Ukraine, because, ultimately, we are all Ukraine. We strive for a better tomorrow, for ourselves and our families, and we recognize that to attain this future, our liberty and our values must be preserved, no matter the cost.

The author is Senior Counsel at The Lawfare Project.

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