Israel blocked the United States from selling Iron Dome missile defense batteries to Ukraine due to the delicate balance it must maintain in its relationship with Moscow, Yediot Achranot reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, Ukraine, among other countries, became interested in purchasing the Iron Dome defense missile system following Operation Guardian of the Walls in May.
Kyiv began a lobbying campaign in Washington to purchase the defense system and later issued a formal request to the Biden administration for the Iron Dome system and US-manufactured Patriot missiles.
The sale was supported by US lawmakers but Israeli officials informed the Biden administration in off-the-record discussions that Israel’s complex relationship with Moscow, and especially Russia’s presence in Syria, prevents it from being able to approve the sale.
As the Iron Dome system was developed by Israel and the US, both countries must approve sales to third parties.
The report said that Israel succeeded in convincing the Biden administration to take the potential sale completely off the table.
Israel is doing its best to maintain a public neutral stance in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as it maintains good relations with both countries and also must consider the large Jewish communities in both countries.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Unlike the USA, Israel has nothing to gain and everything by antagonizing Moscow.
That being said, there is nothing to stop the US from deploying their Iron Dome batteries in Ukraine.
During WWII the US skirted around neutrality laws through the lend/lease program.
However, given that Russia has a stranglehold on Israel through their occupation of Syria, the Russians might be able to finagle a bypass method from the Israelis.
And finally, the more the Iron Dome is involved in conflicts, the more likely it is for vulnerabilities to be found and publicized.
And why would YWN publicize this ?
Sad, even Germany at least sent helmets. This will NOT inspire more cooperation with US companies and will NOT gather more support for the “never again” message.
“Gathering more support for the “never again” message” is not Israel’s top priority. Not everything it does has to be aimed at that goal. Maintaining good relations with Russia is far more important.