Israel has rejected a Ukrainian request for air defense that opposes the barrage of Russian strikes enabled through Iranian drones.
“Israel will not deliver weapons systems to Ukraine due to various operational considerations,” Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Wednesday. “We will continue with Ukraine within our boundaries, as we have done in the past. “
Israel has refused to send weapons to Ukraine during the war, in part because of concerns over Russia’s military presence in neighboring Syria, where Russian and Iranian forces have teamed up to help Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime. However, the extension of this cooperation between Moscow and Tehran to the war in Ukraine has awakened some hope in Kyiv that Israel’s defense industry will equip Ukraine to mitigate Iranian-facilitated airstrikes.
“Iran is our common enemy,” Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, told local media. “But Israel provides very limited intelligence cooperation. “
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Iranian-made surveillance and attack drones have played a key role in a wave of recent attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, designed with the obvious goal of destroying Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure as winter approaches. Ukrainian officials claim to have shot down 223 of the Iranian-made drones, although more intense attacks are looming, given Tehran’s announced resolution to send short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.
“Certainly, given what happened in recent days, one of our top priorities is to create cover for our cities, our civilian infrastructure and create an air shield for Ukraine,” Ukrainian presidential office leader Andriy Yermak said Wednesday after a meeting with diplomats. from several European states. And I am very pleased that today is no longer a topic of discussion, but only a matter of time. And let this be done as soon as possible. “
Ukrainian officials have made no secret of their call for Jerusalem. “I can definitely verify that. This is a request from the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told CNN this week. “We know that Israel has a special generation, how to fight with Iranian drones. This generation can save the lives of many Ukrainians.
Israel has tried to strike a balance between aligning itself with the United States, Israel’s ultimate vital ally, and avoiding a confrontation with Russia. The use of Iranian weapons to attack civilian targets has called this stance into question: “There is no longer any doubt about Israel’s position in this bloody conflict,” Israeli Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai wrote on Twitter on Sunday, but Moscow quickly responded with a threat.
“This would be a very reckless decision, because it would damage all interstate highways between our countries,” Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, said Monday.
Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, the longtime prime minister who forcibly returned in November’s election, backed the government’s refusal to arm Ukraine. He presented the resolution as a way to make sure the weapons don’t fall into “Iranian hands. “as a result of its insertion in Ukraine.
“On the weapons factor, there is an option, and this has happened time and time again, that the weapons we have provided on a battlefield will end up in the hands of the Iranians who backed us,” Netanyahu told MSNBC.
Gantz, the defense minister, touted the provision of “humanitarian aid and the delivery of important defense equipment” as evidence of Israel’s willingness for Ukraine.
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“We have sent a request to the Ukrainians to provide percentage data on their air defense alert needs. Once we get this data, we will help expand a civilian formula of early precaution that will save lives,” Gantz told reporters. “We are following Iran’s involvement in the war in Ukraine. We see that Iran is offering drones and may also supply more complex formulas in the near future. “