Insider

Your all-access pass to FP

Veteran Israeli Diplomat: ‘We Are Only Part of the West When It Suits Us’

Alon Liel discusses the lack of arms for Ukraine and the long-term damage accommodating Moscow could do.

By , a former Arab affairs correspondent at the Jerusalem Post.
Alon Liel introduces his Syrian-American counterpart.
Alon Liel introduces his Syrian-American counterpart.
Alon Liel, former director-general of Israel’s foreign ministry, introduces his Syrian-American counterpart, Ibrahim Suleiman (unseen), at a press conference in Jerusalem on April 12, 2007. David Silverman/Getty Images

A day after Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that Israel is refusing Ukraine’s request for Israeli weaponry to shield it from Russian air attacks, many experts in the United States and Europe are irate with Israel’s decision, which left it a rare outlier among Western countries.

Ben Lynfield is a former Arab affairs correspondent at the Jerusalem Post. He has written for the National, the Independent, and the Christian Science Monitor.

Join the Conversation

Commenting on this and other recent articles is just one benefit of a Foreign Policy subscription.

Already a subscriber? .

Join the Conversation

Join the conversation on this and other recent Foreign Policy articles when you subscribe now.

Not your account?

Join the Conversation

Please follow our comment guidelines, stay on topic, and be civil, courteous, and respectful of others’ beliefs.

You are commenting as .

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.