Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says he worried that advanced Iron Dome air defense systems provided to Ukraine by the United States could potentially find their way into the hands of Iran.
He said that Israel has not joined Western efforts to arm Kiev because its situation is very different from that of other countries backing Ukraine. Netanyahu emphasized that the “freedom of action” in Syria must be preserved and if Israeli weapons were to end up in Iranian hands through capture from the battlefield, it could mean serious danger to Israel.
He also said Israel is not willing to let the United States transfer its own Iron Dome systems to Ukrainian soil because it fears millions of Israelis would then be left vulnerable and exposed. Israel has largely refrained from joining additional Western measures against Russia and has not provided lethal aid to Ukraine, though it has helped out in a humanitarian capacity. According to Netanyahu, there is a tangible risk of weapon proliferation as shown by the fact that Western antitank weapons had already been found in the Middle East.
