JERUSALEM: Israel will not send weapons to Ukraine, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Wednesday, two days after Russia warned that an Israeli move to bolster Kyiv’s forces would severely damage relations.
“Our policy vis-a-vis Ukraine will not change — we will continue to support and stand with the West, we will not provide weapon systems,” Gantz told a briefing of European Union ambassadors, according to a statement from his office.
Israel has walked a delicate diplomatic line since the start of the Russian invasion, seeking to preserve ties with Moscow.
Israel needs Russian cooperation to continue its campaign of air strikes in neighboring Syria, where Russian forces are present and where Israel frequently hits what it calls Iranian-linked targets.
Israeli officials have also stressed the need to safeguard relations with Russia given the large number of Jews in the country and to avoid a return to Cold War era conditions, when Soviet Jews were largely cut off from Israel.
The Israeli stance has infuriated Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, has on several occasions blasted Israel for failing to firmly oppose Russian aggression.
The Israeli position has however evolved over recent months, from near neutrality to more forceful condemnations of Russia.
Gantz said Wednesday that Israel would continue providing “humanitarian aid” to Ukraine, including “life-saving defensive equipment” and was likely to approve “an additional package” soon.
But weapons supplies were off the table, “due to a variety of operational considerations,” the defense minister added.
On Monday, Russia’s former leader Dmitry Medvedev charged that “Israel appears to be getting ready to supply weapons to the Kyiv regime.”
“A very reckless move. It would destroy all bilateral relations between our countries,” the former president and prime minister, who is now deputy head of the Russian Security Council, said in a statement on Telegram.
Israel ‘will not’ supply weapons to Ukraine: Defense minister
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Israel ‘will not’ supply weapons to Ukraine: Defense minister
- “Our policy vis-a-vis Ukraine will not change — we will continue to support and stand with the West, we will not provide weapon systems,” Gantz said
- Israel has walked a delicate diplomatic line since the start of the Russian invasion, seeking to preserve ties with Moscow
1,965 Israeli violations recorded against Palestinians in February
- Head of Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission condemns attacks as a continuation of ‘terror’ against Palestinians
- Violations included assaults, uprooting trees, burning fields and preventing olive pickers from accessing their lands
LONDON: Israeli forces and settlers carried out 1,965 attacks across Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank in February, according to a report by the Palestinian Authority.
Muayyad Shaaban, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, condemned the attacks as a continuation of the “terror” against the Palestinian people, their land and property.
The commission documented 1,454 attacks by Israeli forces and 511 by settlers, most of which were concentrated in the governorates of Hebron with 421 attacks, followed by Nablus with 340, Ramallah and Al-Bireh with 320, and East Jerusalem with 210 attacks.
Violations have included direct beatings of Palestinians, uprooting trees, burning fields, and preventing olive pickers from accessing their lands.
Israeli forces have seized land and demolished homes and agricultural facilities under the pretext of “security,” which has enabled settlers to expand their settlements, according to Wafa news agency.
Shaaban said: “What is taking place represents an organized methodology aimed at emptying the land of its owners and imposing an integrated racist colonial system.”
Israeli settlers have poisoned and uprooted a total of 1,314 trees, including 1,054 olive trees, in the areas of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and Tulkarm. The olive groves have been a lifeline for Palestinians in the West Bank, with an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 families relying on the olive harvest for their livelihoods, according to the UN Human Rights Council.
In February, Israeli forces demolished 122 structures belonging to Palestinians, including 56 inhabited homes, nine uninhabited homes, 34 agricultural facilities and 18 sources of livelihood. More than one-third of these demolitions took place in Jerusalem, totaling 46 structures.
