What a difference a leader makes…a Jewish leader to boot…in Ukraine of all places.
As Putin’s bombs keep landing all around him, here he is, a Maccabee, a Churchill, a Samson who won’t back down.
His battle cry is, all or nothing. No deals. No compromises. No territorial concessions for dubious “peace.”
No two-state-solution.
Not for Volodymyr Zelensky.
This land is his land.
True patriots, such as he is, don’t run “when the fast bullets fly.”
That, from Bob Dylan, who would have been thinking of other tyrants when, in the 1960s, in Greenwich Village, he wrote the ballad “Masters of War.”
The relevant stanza goes…
“You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly”
How appropriate those damning words for this tyrant, 2022, Putin…for whom Ukraine is his “little toy.”
But he won’t buckle. He won’t bend. He won’t yield. He won’t be deterred. He will not run.
For Zelensky, a blast from the past, a prophecy come true…too true.
But he won’t buckle. He won’t bend. He won’t yield. He won’t be deterred. He will not run.
In terms of cultural America, he is Gary Cooper in “High Noon.” As sheriff, given the chance to flee, leave town; instead, he holds his ground to face the Miller Gang.
For Zelensky, it’s Putin’s Gang… (and if Putin really believes that Ukrainians and Russians are blood brothers and sisters, why is he shooting at his own family and people?)
On seizing the moment, picture Zelensky turning from entertainment to leadership, as Herzl turned from journalism to Zionism for a cause so entirely just.
In each case, the cry for liberty in one’s own land.
Not like others in other lands will Zelensky surrender parcels of his land to accommodate the lustful adversary.
Not like some others is he prepared for land swaps and lopsided prisoner exchanges.
Not like others for whom his capital, all or in part, is always up for bargaining, name the right price. Not for him a divided Kyiv, or a shared Ukraine.
Nor will he share handshakes on the White House Lawn with Putin after the disgrace of some Oslo Accord.
None of that for Zelensky…who is proving that when you stand tall for your country, the world will come around to you and your fight.
For others …for the timid…for the lackluster…for the wheelers and dealers, for the teetering in self-confidence, a two-state-solution may be suitable to avoid conflict.
Not for him even the mention of such fainthearted acquiescence.
For Zelensky, it’s a matter of principle. It’s a matter of pride…the principle of right from wrong, the pride sovereignty.
That’s a powerful position to stand on.
Even for a bullet with his name on it, Zelensky is not frightened by the brute force of today’s master of war, Putin… for whom a coup is imminent.
Because Zelensky knows the value of his country, and his worth as a man, a mensch, a leader.
As Putin plays with our world, threatening to go nuclear, Zelensky towers over Putin by the might of his immovable convictions.
The world is watching this showdown between good and evil. Woe to us all if the wrong side prevails.
Whichever way, Zelensky is history in the making under H for Hero.
Or under J for Jewish hero.
New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes regularly for Arutz Sheva.
He wrote the worldwide book-to-movie bestseller “Indecent Proposal,” the authoritative newsroom epic, “The Bathsheba Deadline,” followed by his coming-of-age classics, “The Girls of Cincinnati,” and, the Holocaust-to-Montreal memoir, “Escape from Mount Moriah.” For that and his 1960s epic “The Days of the Bitter End,” contemporaries have hailed him “The last Hemingway, a writer without peer, and the conscience of us all.” Website: www.jackengelhard.com
