Israel excluded from Ukraine's solidarity conference in Paris
While Israel has offered humanitarian aid since the start of the conflict, Ukraine’s president has been strongly pushing for weapons and Iron Dome anti-missile batteries.
PARIS — Israel did not receive an invitation to the international solidarity conference for Ukraine held by French authorities in Paris on Tuesday.
The conference, which follows two other international meetings on Ukraine’s reconstruction last July and October, is designed to raise funding and support to urgently repair Ukraine's damaged infrastructure. Alongside the European Union member states, the United States and a host of international organizations, the list of participants includes three Middle East countries — namely Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Israel is not participating in the conference for a simple reason: It was not invited.
French diplomatic sources explained to Al-Monitor that the list of invitations was decided in direct consultations between Paris and Kyiv. Still, Jerusalem assesses that it was mostly Kyiv that decided to sideline Israel. The snub is not unprecedented and is not necessarily directed at the new incoming government of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
Kyiv has been sidelining and even punishing Israel for a while in the international arena.
