Israel sending aid but not arms to Ukraine

THE final portion of Israel’s 100-ton humanitarian aid package to Ukraine was prepared for transport on Tuesday at Ben Gurion Airport, with the El Al plane carrying the aid – preceded by two additional flights in the past hours – set to take off later in the day to Warsaw, for expected delivery in Ukraine this week.

“This is a gesture of friendship to the Ukrainian people,” said a representative from Mashav, a division of the Foreign Ministry that coordinates Israel’s national aid, as the third plane was being loaded.

“The mission, 100 tons in one day to Ukraine, is without precedent and we should be proud about it,” she said.

The aid includes 17 tons of medical equipment and medicine, water purification systems intended to supply 200,000 people, emergency water supply kits to supply 100,000 people, winter tents to house 3000, 15,000 blankets, 3000 sleeping bags, and 2700 winter coats.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid finalised the contents of the package, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

Israel has been turning down requests to send military or dual-use equipment to Ukraine, part of the tightrope it has tried to walk to balance its interests between Ukraine and Russia, which invaded its neighbour, a former Soviet state, last Thursday.

Russia maintains a military presence in Syria, Israel’s northern and bellicose neighbour. The need to balance security interests at home and policy abroad have produced a relatively restrained response from the Israeli government, which has tried to maintain good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv.

In part because of Israel’s relatively unique place among democracies as having good relations with the warring capitals, on Friday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Bennett to intercede with Russia on Ukraine’s behalf.

On Sunday, Bennett called Russian President Vladimir Putin to offer Israel as a negotiator. Ukrainian envoy to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said that Putin was not pleased by the offer, but remained hopeful that the Russian president may reconsider should the current Russian–Ukrainian talks on the Belarusian border collapse.

Meanwhile, an Israeli medical team on Ukraine’s border with Moldova said tens of thousands of refugees are crossing over in need of medical and psychological support after harrowing journeys to safety.

The team, from the United Hatzalah emergency response organisation, started treating people on the ground on Monday after arriving the night before.

The Israeli medics were the first foreign medical team to reach the border in Moldova, and have set up a command post in a synagogue in the capital, Chisinau.

Many Ukrainians spent several days travelling to the border as they took cover from missile strikes and struggled with cold and lack of food.

Linor Attias, a medic with the team, said of the refugees, “They feel that they lost everything, and they did. That’s the reality.

“Many, many people are crossing this border. Many are coming with nothing. Most of them are women with children, and grandmothers, elderly, because the men are not allowed to leave,” she said.

Most Ukrainians fleeing the fighting are moving to other areas of Ukraine, or to Poland, but Moldova is taking in around 70,000 people per day, and expects to receive around 1 million refugees. The country was unprepared for the crisis but is opening up schools, a university campus and other areas to shelter the refugees.

“Moldova is a quiet country. It doesn’t have conflicts, it doesn’t belong to the European Union, doesn’t belong to anyone,” Attias said. “It doesn’t have the resources that are needed to handle these thousands of refugees, but the country still opened its heart and land for them.”

The team is administering medical care, mainly related to exhaustion, cold and hunger, and tending to some injuries. Hypothermia is expected to become a major problem as the temperature drops and snow falls in the coming days. Several pregnant women have come in with complications.

The group of 12 includes EMTs, paramedics, doctors, a dentist, and members of Hatzalah’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit. Another 30 people are set to join the mission.

The Hatzalah team has met many Israelis, who are safe but struggling to find transportation from Moldova to Israel. An Israeli man was mistakenly killed by Ukrainian forces on Monday while trying to flee to Moldova.

The Hatzalah team also treated a Gazan Palestinian and a Jordanian man, Attias said.

“We did it with love and happiness that we are able to help a person, a human being, no matter where they came from,” she said.

TIMES OF ISRAEL