Ukrainian Jews predict Israeli weapons for Kyiv are inevitable
TPS Kyiv reports that the new Israeli government being formed by Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under pressure from Ukraine to take stronger measures against the Russian invasion.
Tamir missile is launched from the Israeli Iron Dome, positioned in central Israel, towards rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Jul 11, 2014. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS
Kyiv expects Israel to go further than just condemnations of Moscow and humanitarian aid. Ukrainian officials insist they need more and better weapons. The Russian military has been using Iranian aerial drones to attack Ukrainian infrastructure and Moscow reportedly seeks Tehran’s ballistic missiles for the same task.
Kyiv is especially interested in the Israeli state-of-the-art Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow aerial defence systems, as well as the Iron Beam laser system still being developed. And Ukrainians believe it is in Israel’s interest to view the deployment of Iranian drones and missiles as a battle test for weapons intended to be used against the Jewish state.
Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ogryzko, who is not Jewish, told the Tazpit Press Service he hopes Netanyahu’s new government will change Israeli policy and provide weapons.
Ogryzko called it, “the only right option: helping the victim of aggression” – unless, he adds, “Israel wants to feel Iran’s missile program itself.”
Ogryzko suggested that Jerusalem “follow Germany’s example”, referring to Berlin’s shift from initially refusing to provide arms to actively supplying Ukraine with howitzers and ammunition.
But Josef Zissels, a prominent Jewish activist who was jailed by Soviet authorities during the Communist era, acknowledged to TPS that a supply of Israeli weapons “will be hard to achieve” because of Jerusalem’s undeclared security arrangements with Moscow regarding Syria. But Zissels insists Israel will inevitably change.
“Israel will be shifting to Ukraine’s side, whether it wants it or not,” Zissels said. ” There’s pressure from Israeli civic society and from the whole democratic world. This is where history is heading.”
In October, Zissels initiated a campaign calling on Israel to deliver weapons, and denouncing the “aggressor-appeasing pseudo-neutrality Israel government position.” His campaign was supported by local Jewish leaders and Jewish Ukrainians in both Israel and the US.
This is a continuation of the delicate pressure that Kyiv has been exerting for months. Since the first weeks of the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his powerful Chief of Office, Andriy Yermak, have criticised Israel for failing to provide weapons or impose sanctions on Russia.
Both are Jewish.
Ukrainian officials make a point of expressing gratitude for Israel’s noticeable humanitarian aid — but Kyiv’s demands for weapons continue.
Providing defensive systems is something Ukrainians deem as reasonable and necessary.
But the risks Israel faces in sending weapons are not as clearly understood by the Ukrainian public, despite Israeli Ambassador Michael Brodsky’s frequent comments about Israel’s security “red lines” and the “uneasy” Jerusalem – Moscow “relationship.”
Better known to Ukrainians, and infuriating, is Netanyahu’s past recipe for maintaining that relationship: showing respect to not only Vladimir Putin but also to his ideology. Whenever Ukrainians mention Netanyahu, sarcastic comments remind of how he was “parading didz on a stick in Moscow,” referring to his participation in the 2018 annual Victory Day parade in Red Square. “Parading didz” is a pejorative Russian term referring to propaganda signs carried in such parades that are quickly thrown in the garbage afterwards.
But Zissels, who shares Ukrainian’s irritation with Netanyahu’s past Russia moves, is convinced attending the parade was mere diplomacy and nothing more.
“Netanyahu is a very pragmatic, pro-American politician,” he told TPS. “He wore [Russia imperialism symbol] on that parade, sacrificing his reputation and enduring domestic criticism, because Israel’s national [security] interests called for it.”
