When dozens of diplomats walked out of the UN General Assembly on Thursday just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium, Ukraine stayed firmly in its seat.

Despite occasional real friction between Kyiv and Jerusalem, those are circumstances. The real issue is that, for Ukraine, Israel is not just another country caught in a distant border dispute, but something connected to the understanding of where one belongs, not just Aliyah.

Russia has been trying to erase our identity since the times of Kyivan Rus’, which had nothing to do with Russia. They try to tell us that we never existed, that somehow we are merely an extension of them and nothing more.

But that is not even remotely true, which is why, for many in Ukraine, Israel is a reference point for belonging.

Jewish political and religious ties........

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