loading…
PM Benjamin Netanyahu reveals why Israel is reluctant to arm Ukraine. Photo/The Times of Israel
BERLIN – Israel does not supply weapons to Ukraine because the country is bound by certain agreements with Russia of its neighboring country, Syria. This was announced by the Prime Minister (PM) of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu .
Speaking at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Netanyahu was asked whether Israel would continue to refrain from sending weapons to Kiev. The Israeli PM acknowledged that when it comes to this issue, Israel has found itself in a complex situation.
“The Israeli pilot and the Russian pilot flew very close to each other over the Syrian skies,” he said as quoted by RT, Friday (17/3/2023).
He added that years ago he had decided to stop Iran, Israel’s arch-enemy, from creating what he called a “third front” against the Jewish state on its northern borders.
Israel has repeatedly warned Syria against sheltering members of the Hezbollah militia, an organization it has designated as a terrorist group and which it considers linked to Iran. Syrian officials have on many occasions accused Israel of carrying out deadly attacks on the country’s territory.
“To prevent that (third front), we use air power. To do that, we made arrangements with the Russian government and with the Russian Air Force, and the Russian Ground Forces in Syria that we do not shoot down each other’s planes,” he said.
Netanyahu said no other European country backing Ukraine had a similar state of affairs with Moscow.
“We have that problem, I openly say it here. In other words, we have complex considerations…but within those limitations…we are trying to offer humanitarian and defense assistance to Ukraine,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu noted that Israel is assisting Ukraine with a state-of-the-art early warning system. He claimed that this equipment pinpointed the locations targeted by the Russians, allowing the area where civilians were urged to seek shelter to be narrowed down.
