Gantz, Netanyahu Publicly Reject Sending Arms to Kiev After Moscow's Warning

The Russian Security Council deputy chairman warned Monday that any “reckless move” by Tel Aviv to send weapons to Ukraine would “destroy all interstate relations” between Russia and Israel. On Tuesday, Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Lapid would talk with Ukraine’s foreign minister to discuss the sale of air defense systems.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz canceled a call with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov without any explanation, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Kornichuk has said.

In an interview with local media, the ambassador expressed ‘deep disappointment’ by Tel Aviv over the move.

“They did not provide an explanation for the cancellation. Going forward, I don’t think our defense minister will be in contact with Gantz,” Kornichuk said.

Israeli media earlier reported that Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba would speak by telephone on Thursday, with Kuleba expected to make a formal request for Israeli air defense systems. A source from the security services told the newspaper that the request would not be fulfilled in the near future.

Ahead of Israel’s upcoming November 1 legislative elections, both Gantz and his chief rival, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have spoken out publicly against sending weapons arms to Ukraine.

“We are not selling weapons to Ukraine,” Gantz told a local radio station on Tuesday, saying Tel Aviv’s aid to Kiev will continue to be limited to humanitarian support.

In an interview with MSNBC Tuesday, Netanyahu offered rare praise for the Israeli coalition government’s “prudent” approach to the crisis, and similarly spoke out against weapons deliveries, saying they might find their way to Iran somehow.

“On the question of weapons there’s always a possibility – and this has happened time and again – that weapons we supplied in one battlefield end up in Iranian hands used against us,” he said, pointing to the Israeli-made arms used by “Iranian-backed forces” in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights.

The media reports and statements by senior Israeli politicians come following the public warning to Israel by Dmitry Medvedev against moving forward with any reported plans to send weapons to Kiev.

Senior Ukrainian officials from President Volodymyr Zelensky on down have expressed criticism of Israel over its refusal to supply arms. Last month, Zelensky said he didn’t “know what happened to Israel,” and expressed “shock” over the country’s refusal to send air defense systems to Kiev. Earlier this year, Korniychuk walked out of a briefing by Gantz after he reportedly referred to the Ukrainian crisis as a “conflict” and referred to both Russians and Ukrainians as “friends or colleagues.”