
(Photo Credit : Teresa Suarez, Pool/AP)
According to reports, Israel has been excluded from a solidarity conference for Ukraine in Paris on Tuesday, 13 December.
The conference, hosted by French authorities, aims to gather international support for reconstructing Ukraine’s infrastructure damaged during the war. It is the third conference of its kind and features a number of European participants, as well as The United States, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. Israel was reportedly not invited to the conference.
According to French diplomatic sources who spoke with Al-Monitor, participants were invited after a direct consultation between Paris and Kiev.
Israel and Ukraine have been at odds after Israel’s repeated refusal to supply air-defense systems and Iron Dome anti-missile defense batteries to Ukraine, despite providing humanitarian assistance to Kiev. Israel has been walking a fine line between Ukraine and Russia due to security concerns in Syria.
Additionally, Ukraine voted in favor of an Israeli-Palestinian peace parley held in Moscow, with 98 countries voting in favor of the resolution.
Israel was the first nation to create a field hospital in Ukraine shortly after the war began, and during its six-week operation, it treated more than 6,000 patients.
Israel is also set to provide 20 generators to Kiev, of which it has already delivered six.
Over the past few months, Israel has provided thousands of meals packed with a unique self-warming mechanism. The equipment worth $1.2 million that Israel contributed to the children’s hospital in Kiev was revealed to the media last Friday by Michael Brodsky, Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Israel has allowed NATO member states to provide Ukraine with weapons that contain Israeli-made components and has funded the delivery of “strategic materials” to Kiev, under pressure from the White House, according to an exclusive report by Haaretz.
According to reports and photos published on social media, Israeli-made Gaia Amir MRAP armored vehicles have been spotted near Kherson in service of the Ukrainian army.
Israel previously stated that due to “operational restrictions,” it could not transfer weapons to Ukraine, but has repeatedly supplied the war-torn country with humanitarian aid and even early warning systems.