Aid Israel & Ukraine Now

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) says he’ll push for emergency aid for Israel and possibly Ukraine this week. That’s beyond good news; as recent events show, there’s no time to waste. Kudos to Johnson for standing up to the fringe elements in the GOP doing their best to dethrone him and stop the aid flows.

After Iran’s massive weekend attack, it’s impossible to deny that Israel needs US aid urgently.

True, with help from allies, its missile-defense systems fended off the massive Iranian attack with no deaths and only one injury.

But it’s already fighting a war against Iranbacked Hamas in Gaza and looks close to opening a second front with Hezbollah.

Passing an aid bill will not only be a direct investment in regional security against Iran’s ambitions, it will salve at least some of the wounds inflicted on the US-Israel relationship by the Biden administration.

The time’s come for the GOP to set aside its internal divisions over the issue and simply get the job done; thanks to a razor-thin House majority, there’s no other way. That goes for Ukraine as well. Vladimir Putin’s war has taken an unfathomable toll: more than 100,000 Ukrainians dead and more than 10 million displaced, and widespread destruction country-wide.

Now the Ukrainian forces are beginning to face crucial shortages of materiel like the antiaircraft weapons used against Russian drones.

Again, backing Ukraine is backing the postwar liberal order, under which America largely enjoyed peace and rose to unfathomable economic and military pre-eminence.

These are unfashionable causes among some loud Republicans (and aid for Israel faces controversy on the left.

But bowing to short-term political pressure on long-term strategic necessities will only deepen the global disaster wrought by the foreign policy emanating from the White House.

Stand firm, Mr. Speaker, and get the job done. Future generations will thank you.