‘We Need the Iron Dome’ Urges Ukraine’s Envoy to Israel, But Kiev Unlikely to Get Air Defense System
20:09 GMT 07.06.2022 (Updated: 17:26 GMT 15.01.2023)
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While eager to export some weapons, such as drones and Spike missiles, Israel has been extremely protective of its Iron Dome air defense system, which has single-handedly enabled Israel to politically survive thousands of rockets fired by Gaza militants in response to Israel’s bombing campaigns.
Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Yevgen Korniychuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, urged Jerusalem to give Ukraine some of its Iron Dome air defense systems.
“We need the military-technical support, we need the Iron Dome,” he said. “That will allow us to save our civilian women and children from the shelling of the Russian missiles.”
Korniychuk said he was sure Washington wouldn’t stand in the way of the arms transfer, and criticized Israel for its failure to provide Ukraine with military assistance.
“I want the Israeli government to move away from its comfort zone and get back to reality,” he added.
“We are not begging you for help,” he said, according to the Jerusalem Post. “We do believe that on the moral side, Israel has to take the part of the rest of the Western world and help Ukraine with all possible means.”
A rocket launched from Gaza city controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, is intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence system, on May 11, 2021.
© AFP 2023 / MAHMUD HAMS
Despite a personal appearance in the Knesset by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the Western capitalization on his Jewish ethnicity to parry criticism of Western support for the Azov Regiment and other neo-Nazi units in Ukraine’s military, Israel has so far provided little help to Kiev since Russia’s special operation began in February.
Israel’s first and only defensive aid was announced last month and came in the form of 2,000 helmets and 500 flak jackets intended for civilian emergency workers; it has also sent some 100 tons of humanitarian aid and operated a field hospital for several weeks in western Ukraine, the Times of Israel noted.
Last week, Jerusalem blocked a US request for Germany to be allowed to send Spike anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, which are built in Europe under license. According to Israeli military officials who spoke with Axios, the issue was not discussed when Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz held meetings with Pentagon leaders in Washington the week prior.
Jerusalem sending its Iron Dome air defense system, which is designed to shoot down incoming rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon, is even less likely. Israel is extremely protective of the Iron Dome, refusing to share its source code even with the US Army. When Washington bought two Iron Dome batteries in 2020, Israeli engineers had to come to the US and operate the device, including integrating it with other US air defense systems.
In other words, Israeli engineers would most likely also have to go to Ukraine and operate the systems themselves, creating an awkward situation in which Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and Russian soldiers could find themselves shooting at each other.
The Iron Dome launcher system is built by Rafael and its radar by Elbit Systems, both Israeli defense contractors. In Israel, several launchers are networked to a single command center wirelessly, and each launcher contains 20 Tamir interceptors, which destroy their targets via kinetic impact. According to the IDF, each Iron Dome battery is capable of protecting an urban area of approximately 150 square kilometers.
Ukraine has also been supplied with air defense systems by Eastern European NATO allies like Slovakia, who shipped Kiev some Soviet-era systems still in their inventories. Germany is also rumored to be considering sending its modern IRIS-T surface-to-air missile system to Ukraine.
