Lawmakers need to set aside the border and pass aid for Ukraine and Israel now

After months of negotiations, the $118 billion bill that ties border/migrant issues to aid for Israel and Ukraine is a complete dud.

Republican senators have been grumbling for weeks that it doesn’t go remotely far enough to stem the illegal-migrant flow; Speaker Mike Johnson says it’s “dead on arrival” in the House, even if it makes it out of the Senate.

Which means the Senate (and House) should get going now on a bill to fund Ukraine and Israel, period.

Both nations need and deserve our help.

Each is fighting for democracy and Western ideals — and against evils that also threaten the United States.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been on an exhaustive tour, pleading for help from countries that also have a stake in ensuring Vladimir Putin doesn’t claim Ukraine.

And as Israel, our strongest ally in the region, enters its fifth month of battling Hamas, support from the United States is more necessary than ever.

Much more’s on the line than the conflicts at hand.

As Ukraine’s supplies are dwindling, Putin has built up a massive Russian arms industry; he’s not going to dismantle it if he succeeds in taking Ukraine.

And if Congress signals that it won’t fund the defense of free Europe, he’ll be on to his next target: European military leaders expect an invasion of a NATO country within a year or two.

Meanwhile, Israel’s very survival is at stake: If it doesn’t eliminate Hamas in Gaza, the terrorists will find a way to strike again — rendering southern Israel unsafe to live in, even as Hezbollah’s strong presence on the Lebanese border has left the north just as dangerous.

Again: If America fails to help because Congress can’t get its act together, Israel’s enemies will redouble their efforts, besieging the Jewish state until its people flee.

Teaching the lesson that such terror strategies work: Israel won’t be the last nation to face them.

America’s enemies, Russia and Iran, would love nothing more than for the United States to leave Ukraine and Israel flapping in the wind.

Yet Democrats are cooling toward Israel, Republicans toward Ukraine — while President Biden seems incapable of making a public case for either cause.

Washington is on the brink of a huge moral failure.

Ukraine and Israel need aid now.