Israel won't be providing its Iron Dome air defense system to Ukraine, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview to The Wall Street Journal.
He explains, the reason is the same as with other weapons - the concern of Israeli weapons captured by russians and handed over to iran for reverse engineering.
Read more: Israeli Defense Ministry Explains its Standpoint on Arms Exports and Why Ukraine is Off Limits
If the Iron Dome finds its way to iranian military laboratories, "millions of Israelis would be left defenseless and imperiled," Netanyahu warns.
In practice though, this reasoning sounds strange since it's difficult to imagine russians managing the seize the entire system or even any of its components because Iron Dome is a kind of system that is not intended to be deployed close to the frontline, nay closer than dozens of kilometers to the line of contact. Therefore, the Israeli prime minister's explanation appears to be a manipulation based on quite a sensitive thesis "our citizens' security above all."
From the looks of it, Netanyahu's comment on transferring Iron Dome to Ukraine was uttered midst of the appeals of US senators to send one of American-owned Iron Dome batteries to the Ukrainian Air Force so it can repel the russian barrage of missile attacks. Sending this air defense system would require Israel's approval as one of the creators.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem adopted a firm stance on any weapon supplies to Ukraine, both direct ones and re-export from third countries.
Finally, we should keep in mind that export of Israeli weapons is a complex process in itself, and Defense Express earlier wrote a dedicated article figuring out all its aspects from the Israeli Ministry of Defense's perspective.
Read more: Israel Sells Weapons to NATO Countries, but Doesn’t Have Such Types Itself: What Is Special about Them
