Decoupling military aid for Israel and Ukraine would be a grave mistake

America’s support for courageous Ukrainians fighting the Russian invasion took two demoralizing blows in Congress last week. Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, together with former Speaker contender Rep. Jim Jordan, have consistently voted against continued military support for Ukraine, while robustly championing similar assistance to Israel. Then, in the immediate wake of Speaker Johnson’s election, four Republican senators announced their proposed resolution to decouple President Biden’s joint military assistance package to Israel and Ukraine, potentially leaving Kyiv out to dry. 

The arguments for decoupling military aid run from reasonable demands for greater executive office accountability to the disingenuous hyperbole. Regarding the former, Johnson stated, “We want to know what the objective is there, what is the endgame in Ukraine.” A fair inquiry if Congress also asks the White House the same concerning Israel’s existential war against Hamas.

As justified as these questions may be, GOP attempts to segregate prospective military aid between Israel and Ukraine bespeaks a dangerous misunderstanding of the cooperation and coordination among adversarial autocracies — and the terrorist organizations they support.

There is at present an authoritarian axis comprising China, Russia and Iran that — together with their Hamas and Hezbollah proxies — is jointly waging military, economic, technological and information wars against America and our allies. Disabling one of these terror states and/or their proxies weakens the lot of them.

Beginning with Iran: Tehran’s active direction of Hamas’s massacre of Israel citizens is only too apparent. Contrary to Secretary of State Tony Blinken’s fallacious remarks in the slaughter’s aftermath, the Wall Street Journal reported Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad acknowledging Tehran’s support for the surprise attack. This information was hardly shocking, given years of cooperation between Hamas and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; IRGC and Hezbollah relations stem from the terrorist organization’s founding.

Turning northward, Moscow’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has catalyzed ever-deepening defense and economic ties between Russia and Iran, the former providing Tehran with “unprecedented levels of military and technical support.” The Kremlin’s generous aid is partial payback for thousands of Iran-manufactured Shahed drones raining down on Ukraine. Recently, Russia began to deploy its own kamikaze drones based on technology afforded by the Islamic Republic.

Nor is Russia a stranger to Hamas. Hamas leaders met with Russian government officials in March and September of this year. The former Kremlin proxy Wagner Group is alleged to have trained Hamas fighters in Africa. So it is no coincidence that, on the eve of Hamas’s October 7 attack, Russia preemptively doubled down on its offensive to take the strategic town of Avdiivka in Ukraine’s east. Recognizing that global attention would shift to Hamas’s carnage and Israel’s response, these signs indicate that Russia was informed of the coming bloodbath on the Gaza-Israel border. 

Aiding and abetting all these violent autocracies is China. The invasion of Ukraine has — as with Iran — increased the Kremlin’s military and economic reliance on Beijing, ranging from joint naval maneuvers, to expanded trade and investment, to the political cover China provides. Under Beijing’s “pro-Russia neutrality,” this is a geopolitical marriage of convenience. Putin and Xi’s shared avowal is to cripple the national security interests of America and our allies, from Europe through the Pacific Rim.

Witness China’s best friend in the Middle East — Iran. As with Russia, the Islamic Republic holds a key position in China’s militaristic, expansionist agenda. China is Iran’s largest trade partner. China is Iran’s top importer of oil, with a record 2.765 million barrels per day imported this year. And like Moscow, Beijing is seizing on military technology transfer from its partner Tehran that would assuredly be used against Taiwan in the event of an invasion of the island.

This axis is firmly united against global enemy #1 — the United States. The “no limits” China-Russia partnership was reaffirmed at a meeting between Putin and Xi in March, where these dictators agreed that their relationship has “acquired critical importance for the global landscape and the future of humanity.” (Read: Together we attack U.S. interests abroad and their resolve at home whenever and wherever possible).

For now, this axis isn’t decoupling. It makes no sense that we should either. Speaker Johnson is correct to say, “We can’t allow Vladimir Putin to prevail in Ukraine … and it would probably encourage and empower China to perhaps make a move on Taiwan.” Congress has a primary duty to hold the White House accountable. But defunding a resilient ally like Ukraine doesn’t do Israel, nor other frontline partners, any good.

Supporting these nations robustly keeps our troops at home while preventing the U.S. from potentially uncountable costs in blood and treasure. If these autocracies are victorious in Ukraine or Israel, they will continue their drive to expand at the cost of our allies’ sovereignties and freedoms, while making it even more likely that U.S. would fight a full-fledged war against the great autocratic powers aligned against us. 

Decoupling the proposed Ukraine aid from aid for Israel does not serve their best interests nor America’s. Yes — push the Biden administration to give Americans a road map for these conflicts. Meanwhile, Ukraine is bleeding dry the perpetual menace that is Russia, while Israel has launched its anticipated ground offensive in Gaza. They’ll be striking hard and fast towards this axis’s collective decline — provided we continue to give them both the weapons to do the job.

Richard Kraemer is the president of the U.S.-Europe Alliance and a senior fellow at the European Values Center, Prague.