Israel Shifts Its Position Towards Russia, Begins Supplying Military Equipment to Ukraine
March 5—Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan made a speech at the UN on Feb. 28, announcing that Israel would begin sending early warning systems to Ukraine. A spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry told Business Insider that it would be a system similar to Israel’s Tzeva Adom radar system, which operates like an alarm system, and does not appear to include any projectiles or anti-missile defense. The spokesman claimed this would likely entail Israel sending specialist soldiers to Ukraine to integrate the new system.
“Both of our countries—Ukraine and Israel—are fighting a battle for our survival,” Erdan said. “The state of Israel will always remain committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said, adding that Israel was “working to provide Ukraine with early warning systems to save civilian lives from Russia’s indiscriminate missile and drone attacks,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
Erdan was very explicit about Russia, however, and said that “Russia is now deepening its ties with global forces of destabilization,” comparing the country with Hamas and Iran. Intelligence sources say that Israel took the action in response to pressure from the Biden White House, which itself has been unable to overcome stiff Congressional opposition to the continued funding of the Ukraine's losing war effort. Netanyahu backed the action in the hope of gaining some political counterweight among the NATO allies backing the Ukraine war effort who, including the United States, under pressure from their populations, have been increasingly attacking Israel's genocidal war against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel has maintained a stable relationship with Russia even following the onset of the Ukraine war in 2022. The country’s former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett helped broker a tentative peace deal between Ukraine and Russia in the spring of 2022, a deal that was then torn up by Boris Johnson and the U.S. Netanyahu has even had a warm relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ambassador Erdan highlighted the Feb. 29-March 1 meeting of the various Palestinian political factions in Moscow, a delegation which included Hamas. “Russia is one of the only places outside of the Middle East where Hamas terrorists and Houthi Jihadists are given the red-carpet treatment, even after October 7,” Erdan said, and added that “this meeting in Moscow is a result of something more dangerous.”
“We, Israel and Ukraine, are the canaries in the coal mine. To the rest of the free world, I say: Wake up! Wake up!” Erdan stated.
Following Erdan’s show, the head of the libertarian caucus in Netanyahu’s Likud Party, Amir Weitmann, went further. “Israel will take a more aggressive stance against Russia” from here on, he told Business Insider. Weitmann also claimed that “Russia is heavily involved in what is happening in Israel,” although it’s not clear “at what level” they are operating, and that the shipment of radar systems was “just the beginning” of Israel’s support for Ukraine. Israel does not have excess weapons to send at the time being, he said, but if the conflict is still going when they finish off their war with Hamas, “Israeli weapons would find their way to Ukraine.”
