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The Ukrainian Embassy in Tel Aviv launched on Monday an unusual campaign upbraiding the Israeli government for what it calls the "drawn-out delay" in the provision of medical treatment to Ukrainian soldiers who lost limbs during the conflict with Russia.
As part of the funded campaign, the mission shared on its social media an image of a 19-year-old Ukrainian soldier named Dalil who had lost both his legs in a Russian assault and requires an urgent prosthetic transplant.
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Social media campaign funded by Ukrainian Embassy in Tel Aviv featuring image of wounded Ukrainian soldier and the words 'the Israeli government is unwilling to treat him only because he is Ukrainian'
(Photo: Taken from Twitter)
"The Israeli government is unwilling to treat him only because he is Ukrainian", the ad reads in Hebrew in bold red-white text with the official logo of the Ukrainian embassy emblazoned in the bottom left corner.
The image was accompanied by a caption reading, "many Ukrainians lost limbs to the Russian attacks. Israel is an international powerhouse in the field of prosthetics. We expect the Israeli government to do the right, moral thing and help Dalil (pictured) and many other Ukrainians walk again. There is no justification for the drawn-out delay of aid in this humanitarian field."
Officials in Jerusalem expressed their outrage at the campaign which they say deviates from diplomatic etiquette according to which a foreign diplomatic mission does not criticize the government of the host country.
"This approach is unacceptable. There is a way to convey requests and it is untoward for a foreign ambassador to abase the country in which he is no more than a guest," a government official said.
This is not the first time Jerusalem and Kyiv have run afoul of each other over medical care for Ukrainian soldiers in recent months.
Ukrainian Minister of Healthcare Viktor Liashko requested aid from Israeli counterpart Nitzan Horowitz, who did not reject the request and said that the subject would be examined.
A political source told Ynet last month that Israel was willing to accept wounded from Ukraine, including soldiers. However, in practice, no Ukrainian soldiers have arrived in Israel for medical treatment so far.