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“I am the Defense Minister and the person responsible for the export of Israeli weapons,” said Benny Gantz after kyiv’s plans to ask Tel Aviv for air defense systems.
Benny Gantz, Israel’s Defense Minister, emphasized on Tuesday that his country has neither sold nor plans sell weapons to Ukraine, reports the daily Haaretz. “I am the Minister of Defense and responsible for the export of Israeli weapons I want to make it clear that we are not selling weapons to Ukraine,” he told the local radio station Kol Chai, stressing that what Tel Aviv is providing to kyiv is medical and humanitarian aid, and will continue to do so.
Gantz’s statements come a day after the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitri Kuleba, expressed his formal intention to ask the Israeli government for immediate air defense assistance, alleging that “it is time for Israel to openly side with Ukraine”.
A meeting between Kuleba and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid is scheduled for Thursday to discuss requests for aid to the European nation. In this regard, senior political officials have assured in recent days that Tel Aviv will not change its position regarding defense support for kyiv. Gantz also plans in the coming days to talk by phone about it with his Ukrainian counterpart, Alexei Reznikov. In The Times of Israel newspaper, the Israeli Defense Minister canceled the call earlier this week, unexpectedly and without explanation.
Hours before Grantz’s radio pronouncement, the Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed his refusal to offer military support to Ukraine, arguing that the arsenal could fall into the hands of Iran. At the same time, he called Israel’s current policy towards the Ukrainian conflict “prudent”.
Israel has repeatedly rejected requests from kyiv to supply it with weapons , specifically missile defense systems. Faced with this position, the Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Nachman Shai, said this Sunday that he believed it appropriate to send the requested military equipment. “Iran is supplying ballistic missiles to Russia. Doubts about where Israel should be in this bloody conflict are over The time has come for us to provide Ukraine with military aid as the United States and NATO do,” he said.
“Israel seems to be on the verge of supplying the kyiv. A very reckless move. It will destroy all interstate relations between our countries,” former Russian President and deputy head of the Russian Security Council, Dmitri Medvedev, said on the issue on Monday.
