Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Wednesday that Israel “will not provide weapons systems” but said Jerusalem would continue to side with Western support for Kyiv. “We asked the Ukrainians to share information about their needs and offered to help develop an early warning system that saves lives,” he was quoted as saying to ambassadors from the European Union. Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, publicly condemned the Russian invasion and reportedly shares intelligence with Kyiv. But it has halted strategic military aid, hoping to maintain ties with Moscow. These ties include Israel’s communication with Russia in Syria to target Iranian arms shipments through the country and Israel’s concerns about the Jewish diaspora in Russia. Gantz’s rejection of military aid came after the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel formally appealed for air defense systems following two weeks of devastating attacks by Russia using Iranian drones. The Shahed-136, nicknamed kamikaze drones, have killed civilians in their homes and on the streets and destroyed critical infrastructure threatening the country’s electricity and water supplies as winter temperatures begin to settle. Ukraine’s embassy in Israel, in a letter sent Tuesday, asked the Israeli government to enter into “mutual cooperation in the field of air defense/missile defense,” warning that Iran’s battlefield experience for its weapons systems poses an immediate threat. for the Middle East. “The Ukrainian side’s request to the Israeli side to support the aforementioned proposals is based on the view that the positive experience gained by Iran from the use of the aforementioned weapons in Ukraine will lead to further improvement of Iranian systems,” the letter said. and Axios mentions. The letter calls out Israel’s Iron Dome system, which last had a 97 percent success rate in intercepting nearly 600 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip over the course of a few days in August. “We are a country at war ourselves, I don’t think we can afford to empty our stockpiles,” said Uzi Rubin, founder and first director of the Israel Missile Defense Agency at the Israeli Defense Ministry and a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. “We export weapons. We are one of the top 10 exporters. But that means if you want an Israeli system, you have to contract for it and wait for it to be built.” Other air defense systems Ukraine requested in its letter are the Barak-8, David’s Sling and Arrow Interceptor — advanced and multi-layered air defenses that can intercept medium- to long-range missiles and rockets and are increasingly used to intercept drones. Other requests, such as the Iron Beam – a high-energy laser weapon system developed by Israeli arms manufacturer Rafael – are not operational. And while the Ukrainians appeared to be asking the Israelis for a Patriot missile defense system, that system is US-made and being developed in Saudi Arabia for missile and drone defense. While the US military has two Iron Dome batteries in its possession, the government has sent no signal that it wants to send them to Ukraine. Becca Wasser, senior fellow for the defense program at the Center for a New American Security, said one reason the US might not send its own Iron Dome is that it only has two, and only one is operational in Guam. “A few years ago the [House Armed Services Committee] he was talking about the US sending one of the Iron Dome batteries to Ukraine long before the recent events with the Russian invasion took place,” he said. “But at the end of the day … the United States doesn’t have that many Iron Dome systems.” However, he added that there had been a recent push by the US “to strengthen other allies and partners in providing air defense to Ukraine”. Seth Frantzman, author of “Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machines, Artificial Intelligence, and the Battle for the Future,” said early detection is more critical than expensive air defense systems, adding that the Iranian-made kamikaze drone moves slowly and “Sounds like some sort of flying lawnmower.” “Ukraine needs the right kind of radar to detect the drones,” he said, giving them time to decide how to shoot them down with warplanes, shoulder-launched missiles or small arms fire. Germany, Spain, NATO and the US have sent, and are sending, more air defense systems to Ukraine, but Kyiv is begging for more. “Iranian drones attacking Ukraine were probably built to attack Israel,” tweeted Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister. “Israel knows better than anyone what it’s like to fight terrorists. We are asking Israel to give us air defense systems and defensive weapons – they are extremely important when we are dealing with terrorists.” Franzmann said Israel is familiar with the ways in which Russia appears to be using Iranian drones. “It’s actually being used by the Russians just to kill and assassinate the civilian population and terrorize people. Israel has faced similar types of indiscriminate missiles and now some drone fire, so it built systems like Iron Dome,” he said. “So from Israel’s perspective, it’s like Israel has already seen this.” While the Biden administration has quietly pushed for Jerusalem to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression, it has distanced itself from public calls for Israel to provide critical military defense to Kyiv. “We said we were – pleased is maybe the wrong word – but we were fine with Israel’s complicated relationship [with Russia]US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides said in an interview with The Hill in September. “It’s obviously a bit complicated for Israel, but we’re pushing it every day,” he added. A few isolated voices in Israel have said Iran’s drone sales and expected missile sales to Russia are reason enough to justify military deliveries. “This morning it was reported that Iran is transferring ballistic missiles to Russia. There is no longer any doubt about where Israel should stand in this bloody conflict,” Israeli Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai tweeted on Sunday. “It is time for Ukraine to also receive military aid, as provided by the US and NATO countries.” Rubin said that for Israel, Russia’s use of Iranian drones could be an opportunity to gather intelligence for future conflicts with Tehran. “Of course [the Iranians] learn more — the conflict in Ukraine is a very high-intensity conflict, they learn from it. But at the same time we also learn from the way they fight, we see what happens and we learn from that too.” And Russia has issued stern warnings to cut ties with Israel if Jerusalem changes its position. “It appears that Israel will supply weapons to the Kiev regime. Very reckless move. It will destroy all diplomatic relations between our countries,” wrote Dmitry Medvedev, vice president of Russia’s Security Council and a key Putin ally, on Telegram. Rubin said Medvedev’s threats resonated in Israel. On The Money — Housing market sinks deeper as rates rise Healthcare — Novavax booster dose approved by FDA “Israel declared neutrality because we have relations with Russia. It’s something I don’t think we can give up easily,” he said. Israel is due to go to elections in November, and there is little public pressure for the government to support Ukraine more strongly. A March poll found that only 22 percent of Israelis supported sending military aid to Ukraine and that voters are largely focused on the rising cost of living. “I, as an Israeli, would like to keep our channels to Russia open, but I’m a citizen, just a taxpayer and a voter, I don’t make the decisions,” Rubin said.
