It has been almost a year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in Kyiv there is only a faint hope of a change of direction in Israeli policy regarding involvement in the war.
If about a year ago the Ukrainians were still begging Israel for military aid, now they are both much more strengthened and sober.
It is clear to them that in view of the special Israeli interests vis-à-vis Russia, the Israeli security system will no longer provide ammunition.
These innocent hopes indeed accompanied the Zelenskyi administration, but they have long been dashed.
Bombings in Ukraine (archive), photo: Yossi Zeliger
Ukraine did not wait for Israel, and during the war received military aid from other countries.
The supply of fighter jets from the West to Ukraine is already on the agenda.
These achievements come after a long and successful campaign by Zelensky to force the West to send him tanks.
At this time the Ukrainian president maintains his status as an international hero of the West.
He leverages the enormous sympathy in public opinion for internal political pressure on the leaders of the Western democracies - a pressure that bears fruit.
Accordingly, Israel's importance as a source of military munitions supply has declined for the Ukrainians.
Along with it, sympathy for the Jewish state, which was widespread in Ukraine before the war, also collapsed.
In 2019, Netanyahu visited Zelensky, shortly after he was elected.
In that meeting, the Israeli Prime Minister was treated like a teacher educating his young student.
Ukrainian President Zelensky and Prime Minister Netanyahu exchanged their international status, 2019 (archive), photo: Amos Ben Gershom for Israel
Now the situation has almost been reversed: Zelensky is more well-known in the world than Netanyahu and no longer really counts Israel.
He visited European countries and also spoke digitally in the American Congress.
For his part, Jerusalem ceased to be an address.
For him, Israel has not even kept the promises it made - the warning system against the Russian-Iranian missiles and drones, which strike Ukraine every day.
Half a year has passed since the security system promised to provide them, and still has not kept its word.
The same attitude was also given regarding a loan that Ukraine requested.
It's not that Israel replied in the negative, it just didn't answer - quite an insulting attitude in general, and especially when it comes to a nation that is at war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and German Chancellor Olaf Schulz, Kyiv, June 2022 (archive), photo: Reuters
Against the background of all this, and considering the almost neutral policy of both the Bennet Lapid and Netanyahu governments, the feelings in Ukraine towards Israel are at an all-time low.
And not only in Kiev, but also in the West.
Our best friends may understand our reasons for running away from taking a stand, but don't really justify them.
This criticism is expected to rise again in the coming days.
On the one year anniversary of the war, senior Israeli officials are considering conducting recognition visits to Ukraine.
This is, among other things, a joint and unusual visit by the chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Yuli Edelstein of the Likud, and MK Ze'ev Elkin, of the state camp.
Despite belonging to opposite political camps, the two will cooperate because they agree that Israel's policy is wrong.
According to thick hints coming from Kiev, it seems that they and others should come to the battlefields with their hands full.
The Ukrainians do not need our sympathy.
Rather, the way things are going now, it looks like we'll be the ones who will soon need their sympathy.
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