US hands over weapons to Ukraine from Israeli warehouses - Knesset member

He said this in an interview with RTVI.

"It's no secret that the Americans supplied most of the weapons that were in warehouses in Israel to Ukraine," Edelstein said. According to him, this did not cause a negative reaction or questions from Israeli politicians, who, according to the MP, understand "the need for such supplies."

Edelstein explained Jerusalem's refusal to supply weapons by the difficult situation in Israel itself, given that the Palestinian Hamas movement operates in the south and the Lebanese Hezbollah group in the north. "The next circle includes Iran and so on. Therefore, there are purely practical issues," the Israeli MP added.

According to the head of the Knesset committee, people understand that "Israel has certain limitations." "As the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, I have not heard that we have a huge amount of weapons that we can share so easily," Edelstein said.

The MP noted that he was pleased to hear "either a report or a leak from the Prime Minister's Office" about Jerusalem's plans to change its policy on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. He supported this decision and noted that Russia's "main friend and partner" is Iran.

Edelstein expressed hope that Israel would do more to support Ukraine in the future. He noted that Jerusalem is already "doing a lot in the area of humanitarian aid" and recently "is starting to do more in terms of warning systems and things that help civilians in case of air attacks or some kind of hostilities."

Israel supports Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, but does not supply Kyiv with weapons on its own. Sources from The New York Times and the Turkish Anadolu Agency have previously reported that American military equipment and ammunition have been transferred from Israel to Ukraine. Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov said that Moscow would request information from Jerusalem on this matter.

February 16, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen paid his first visit to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. He declared his support for the Ukrainian peace formula, which, among other things, provides for a tribunal for Russian war criminals.