Ukraine supports 90% of anti-Israel decisions in the United Nations, Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky told Ukrainian outlet ZN.UA.
“This is unusual considering Kyiv often turns to the Israeli authorities for various requests,” he said. “If Ukraine sees Israel as a friendly nation and makes requests from it, then it needs to support us in the matters that are important to us just as Israel works with Ukraine on matters important to it.”
In a UN vote in January on referring Israel to the International Court of Justice for its “occupation, settlement and annexation of Palestinian territory”, Ukraine voted against Israel in the draft and didn’t cast a vote in the main round after its ambassador to Israel was summoned.
“If Ukraine sees Israel as a friendly nation then it needs to support us in the matters that are important to us.”
Ambassador Michael Brodsky
On the other hand, Brodsky told ZN.UA, Israel has supported Ukraine in the UN from the beginning, supporting a UN decision against Russia at the start of the war and later became a co-writer of the resolution.
Israel doesn’t support Ukraine when it endangers security
On Ukrainian issues that Israel did not support, Brodsky told ZN.UA that sometimes Israel has to take its security into account.
Workers handle packages of Israeli humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine, at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel March 1, 2022 (credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)“This is due to our sensitivity in relations with Russia and the danger that may arise if Israel takes any careless steps that could lead to an aggravation of the situation,” he said, adding that this is also why Israel hasn’t sent weapons to Ukraine and has only given humanitarian aid.
Brodsky added that while Israel has not given Ukraine weapons, it is in the process of supplying the country with an early warning system.
“The schedule for the transfer of the system was agreed upon by the two parties, specialists from Israel and Ukraine meet, work and actively do everything to make this system work here as quickly as possible,” he said.
This aid, Brodsky said, is given after Israel made the decision early on to support Ukraine in the war.
“I think the most important thing in the current situation is that our sympathy for Ukraine and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky is not connected with his Jewish roots, but with the fact that your country has been subjected to aggression and is experiencing a colossal tragedy,” he said.
He refused, however, to comment on recent comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin questioning Zelensky’s Judaism and calling him a “disgrace to the Jewish people”, instead saying generally that Israel “reacts sharply to any manifestations of antisemitism.”
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