PM: Israel doing more than most to aid Ukraine, while balancing ‘complex’ considerations

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says that Israel is providing Ukraine with a large amount of aid, at a scale not provided by most other countries, while balancing a number of “complex considerations.”

Bennett is speaking at the departure ceremony for an Israeli delegation flying out to set up a field hospital in Ukraine, his first public statement on the matter following a caustic speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Israel “has been reaching out with aid in the crisis in Ukraine for several weeks, right from the first moment through various channels,” Bennett says.

Israel also operates “in other dimensions; there are not many countries that operate on such a scale,” he says.

Ukraine has criticized Israel for its failure to arm Kyiv or even send defensive military kit such as flak jackets and helmets.

“We are managing this unfortunate crisis in a sensitive, benevolent and responsible manner, while balancing the various considerations – and they are complex,” Bennett says.

Zelensky criticized Jerusalem bitterly in a speech to Israeli lawmakers on Sunday, repeatedly invoking the Holocaust and slamming Israel for failing to arm his country and impose sanctions on Russia.

But he later changed tack and thanked Bennett in his nightly video address.

“The prime minister of Israel, Mr. [Naftali] Bennett, is trying to find a way of holding talks. And we are grateful for this. We are grateful for his efforts, so that sooner or later we will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem,” Zelesnky said, according to a translation by Reuters.