When it comes to the war in Ukraine, the Jewish political right is showing its intellectual exhaustion, fueled by the dumbing-down years of the culture wars.

The Jewish right is displaying a very limited and narrow vision of the world, which one would previously expect of far-left intellectuals. The Jewish right of yesteryear — the Cold War warriors like Norman Podhoretz — are largely retired or passed away. The new “Jewish right” has lost its resolve to stand up to the great evil of the day.

We are told that the Russia-Ukraine war is not our war. That our support of Ukraine is conditional. That it is not worth the lives that would be lost to get more involved, and not worth the money spent. We’re told America and Israel should not stand up to Russian tyranny or despotism, either because Russia will eventually win, or because there is a good chance the war will escalate to a nuclear exchange. Finally, in the Orwellian spirit of our days, the word “compromise” is replaced with “off ramp” — as if erasing an entire nation is a comfortable exit from the highway of history.

However, there is another, very similar conflict in the world where the very same right-wing Jewish intellectuals take a completely opposite stand — the Arab-Israeli conflict.

With no exceptions, the very same intellectuals argue against all senseless “compromises” to the conflict, periodically proposed by the US and its Western allies. We all remember Dennis Ross and many other “special” envoys to the Middle East, and how those very same Jewish intellectuals derided the “shuttle diplomacy” to strike a “compromise” between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. They know every “compromise” or “off ramp” is just another part of the strategy so famously advocated by the late Yasser Arafat to destroy Israel. They clearly state no “compromise” is possible prior to the recognition of the State of Israel, the people of Israel, and their right to the Land of Israel. That is exactly what Russia is refusing to grant to Ukraine.

Those intellectuals might argue that the Palestinians don’t possess nuclear weapons, which is why the Ukraine war is different. However, Iran is likely to acquire its own nuclear weapons soon. Does anyone really believe the intellectuals in question will call on Israel to restrain itself, compromise, and take an off ramp when Iran makes its demands as a nuclear power? Of course not. The intellectuals will call for an ironclad resolve and steadfastness in the face of the ultimate evil.

Years ago, at the height of the Cold War, the world witnessed an emergence of a new breed of what Lenin called useful idiots. Those were “fighters for peace.” They were Western intellectuals willing to do anything to prevent a new war — and surrender was as good an option as any.

Yet even among that fantastically moronic group, there was a smaller clique, even more bizarre in its demands and world view. Those were the “fighters” for nuclear disarmament. For them, any conflict would lead to a nuclear war, but more importantly, any resistance to the demands of the Evil Empire would lead to a cataclysmic nuclear scenario. For them, the Soviet Union was the future because it was the only power able to efficiently use the nuclear threat. That group included too many Jews. In the current war unfolding in Ukraine, we should remember that though Ukraine is not Israel and Russia is not the Soviet Union, surrender is not an option and history has lessons.

Will the Jewish right finally find the wisdom and courage to fight tyranny and despotism, or will they take an “off ramp”?

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