Prime Minister of the Jewish State Benjamin Netanyahu noted that Israeli specialists will help Ukraine deploy a high-tech warning system about possible air strikesBERLIN, March 16.
/tass/. Israel is limited to providing only humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, largely because of the agreements it has with the Russian authorities concerning Syria. This statement was made on Thursday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press conference following a meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
"I must say quite frankly and frankly that we have a difficult situation in Israel," Netanyahu said, answering a question about the prospects for expanding Israeli aid to Kiev. "Israeli pilots and Russian pilots fly at a minimum distance from each other in the sky over Syria," the prime minister said.
According to him, a few years ago, Israel decided to resist Iran's attempts to "open a third front" against it from Syria, and the Israeli Air Force was involved for this. "In addition to what they had in Lebanon and Gaza, they [Iran] wanted to open a third front with Shiite armed groups numbering from 80 thousand to 100 thousand people under the command of Iranian generals right on our border with Syria. To prevent this, we used the air force, hundreds of sorties that prevented this," Netanyahu stated his version of events.
According to him, when carrying out these operations, the Israeli military had to take into account the Russian presence in Syria. "To do this, we have concluded an agreement with the Russian government, with the Russian air force and the Russian army in Syria that we will not shoot down each other's planes," he claimed. "I think that no European country has such a situation when it comes to those who supports Ukraine," Netanyahu added.
"We have such a problem, and I am openly talking about it here," the Israeli prime minister continued. "In other words, we have other, more complex considerations, but within these limitations and within these considerations, we are trying to provide humanitarian and defensive assistance to Ukraine, and this is obviously happening right now," he concluded.
Netanyahu added that Israeli specialists will help Ukraine deploy a high-tech warning system for possible air strikes, using Israel's rich experience. "We offer Ukraine not only humanitarian aid, but also assistance in civil defense, in the creation of early warning systems. Israel has advanced developments in this area, they allow, for example, to avoid the whole country or entire regions hiding in bomb shelters," he said.
As the prime minister explained, Israeli systems allow you to accurately predict the direction of the strike and notify citizens about it in advance. Such a system works successfully in Israel, warning, in particular, residents of the southern regions of the country about possible attacks from the Gaza Strip.
"People get a message where missiles can arrive, so a lot of destruction can be avoided. This message can be received directly on the phone, sometimes in individual regions. It can be a city or a separate area of the city. So there will be no need to immobilize the whole country," the prime minister said.
According to Netanyahu, contacts between Israeli and Ukrainian experts on this issue are progressing.
Earlier, Ukraine repeatedly appealed to Israel with requests to provide weapons, but the Israeli side consistently rejected all requests. The Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, formed at the end of 2022, confirmed the course to support Kiev by providing humanitarian assistance.
In February, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen visited Kiev, becoming the first high-ranking Israeli official to visit Ukraine since the outbreak of hostilities in that country. During meetings with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba and President Vladimir Zelensky, he stressed that Israel would continue to provide humanitarian assistance, there was no talk of military supplies.
