Israel explains its reluctance to arm Ukraine — RT World News
Nation has found itself ‘in a complex situation’ as it has an agreement with Russia on Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says
Israel does not supply arms to Ukraine because it is bound by certain agreements with Russia over neighboring Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday.
Speaking at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Netanyahu was asked if Israel would continue to refrain from sending weapons to kyiv. The Prime Minister acknowledged that on this issue, Israel found itself “in a complex situation.
“Israeli pilots and Russian pilots fly within spitting distance of each other in the skies of Syria,” he said, adding that several years ago he decided to prevent Iran, Israel’s sworn enemy, from creating a “third front” against the Jewish state on its northern border.
Israel has repeatedly warned Syria against harboring militia members from Hezbollah, an organization it has designated as a terrorist organization and considers linked to Iran. Syrian officials have repeatedly accused Israel of carrying out deadly strikes on national territory.
“To prevent [the third front]we used air power… To do this we made an agreement with the Russian government and with the Russian air force and the Russian army in Syria that we would not shoot down each other’s planes », he noted, adding that no other European country supporting Ukraine had similar circumstances in its relations with Moscow.
“We have this problem, I say it openly here. In other words, we have complex considerations…but within those limits…we try to offer humanitarian and defensive aid to Ukraine,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister noted that Israel is helping Ukraine with state-of-the-art early warning systems. He claimed that this equipment locates the places targeted by the Russian strikes, making it possible to circumscribe the zones where the civilians are invited to take refuge.
After Russia began its military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, Israel condemned its actions but never joined Western sanctions against Moscow and was reluctant to supply arms to Kiev.
He also rejected Ukraine’s claims for its Iron Dome air defense systems, arguing that was not the case. “have a sufficiently large production base” to meet the needs of Kyiv.
However, on Wednesday Axios reported, citing sources, that Israel had approved export licenses for the possible sale of anti-jamming drone systems to Kyiv. However, Israeli officials told the outlet that the move did not mark a change in national policy on the conflict, as the equipment is defensive in nature and jams a UAV’s signal rather than targeting it with ammunition, meaning it could not harm Russian soldiers.
rt Gt
