Notes from the editors: With the exception of the United States, every Western ally refused to sell Israelmunition. Only three unexpected partners filled the gap: Hungary, Serbia and the Czech Republic.
A senior Israeli defense officer entrusted me this week that, while Jerusalem enjoyed a short wave of diplomatic sympathy when Hamas launched his attacks in October 2023, that solidarity did not translate into harsh support on the battlefield.
With the only exception from the United States, every Western ally, Germany and Italy among them refused to sell the sale of Israel ammunition or other critical material. In the end, only three unexpected partners filled the gap: Hungary, Serbia and the Czech Republic.
“The greatest allies of Israel imposed a arms embargo on Israel,” said the official, his frustration only partially hidden. “Apart from the Americans, nobody would deliver us equipment for offensive activities, or even sell us the parts to produce it yourself, except Hungary, Serbia and the Czech Republic.”
That judgment has tightened a long-term debate within the Ministry of Defense: Israel, claimed the civil servant, must double on his own defense-industrial basis, so that future wars are not fought with ammunition that depends on foreign political grilling.
Serbia: the most important lifeline
Nowhere was the golf policy clearer than in Belgrade. Serbia's state exporter, Yugo Import SDPR, dramatically extensive deliveries after October 2023. Balkan media followed a flurry of cargo flights connected to Serbian airports and Israeli base: in July 2024 alone, about € 7.3 million in weapons and ammunition that leaves for Israel. By the end of the year that figure climbed to around € 23.1 million, and Serbian officials eventually rose € 42.3 million in the export of 2024, an increase of only € 1.4 million the previous year.
“We will always … like the Jewish people and Israel.” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has developed strong relationships between Serbia and Israel under his presidency. He attends a meeting in the southern city of Nis last month. (Credit: Sasa Djordjevic/AFP via Getty images)
Most of those shipments were 155 mm artillery scales, the workhorses of modern land warning. Photos showed rows of green painted pallets that were pushed into the belly of Israeli transport aircraft, viewed by Air Force Crews in both countries. The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, even acknowledged the Golf and told local reporters that Belgrade “accelerated deliveries” had to help Israel to supplement declining shares.
I spoke about those figures with the Jerusalem PostThe news editor, Alex Winston, who had just returned from Belgrade. When Winston Vučić put pressure on the criticism he encountered in the European Union for arming Israel, the Serbian leader was Bot: “I am the only one in Europe who nowadays acts with Israel in military ammunition, and that is why I am often criticized by colleagues.”
Investigations have indeed tried to set up the heat. Serbian watchdog Krik joined that of Germany Child When claiming irregularities in the deals, although none of the claims has been proven. In the meantime, Vučić shifted again this summer: by June 2025 he promised to stop further ammunition transfers and lead the remaining stocks to the Serbian army.
Hungary: political friendship, no firepower
When Belgrade supplied the shells, Budapest mainly offered rhetoric. Hungarian defense companies have previously worked with Israel, with joint drone programs and approximately € 15 million in exports between 2014 and 2022. Yet there are no proof of new deliveries since the Gaza war started. Hungarian officials with whom I contacted, refused to discuss the case and only spoke in general terms about the 'substantial support' of their country for Israel.
That support has been very visible. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest on April 3, 2025 and praised Israel as 'an anchor in the middle -east'. Days later, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that Hungary would leave the International Criminal Court of the arrest warrant that was published for Netanyahu, Proof, said Orbán that the court had become “politics.”
But enthusiasm in parliament has not translated into crates of bullets or barrels. Hungary's Defense Start-Up N7 Defense Zrt. Chases Global Markets, but none of his catalog seems to have reached the IDF during this war. For Jerusalem, the friendship of Budapest is really, just not kinetic.
The Czech Republic: Armored plates on the first plane
The help of Prague was concrete if limited. Within a few days after the attacks of October 2023, the Czech industry hurried about 3,000 ballistic armored plates and cardigans to Israel. The export paper was quickly followed, the customs controls were abandoned and the equipment arrived on IDF bases while rockets were still fell. The contractor behind the shipment, STV Group, later confirmed that it could offer more if requested; So far, Israel has not requested additional batches.
Other Czech defense houses stayed on the sidelines. The motor maker PBS Velká Bíteš and others maintained continuous joint ventures with Israel, but those projects serve Czech modernization, not Israeli consumption. Voices of the citizenship faces sent the opposite direction: in February 2024 hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Prague, waving with 'nuvuur now' and accused their government of complicity. The Czech branch of Amnesty International joined similar calls to suspend the sale of weapons, although their statements did not accrue specific deliveries outside the original armor.
The three Midden -European Uitbijters are in stark contrast to the wider Western policy since October 2023. With an embargo of the UN Security Council, each government has improvised its own red lines:
Canada froze new export permits on January 8, 2024, “until we can verify compliance with end use,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Spain not only stopped the licenses in October 2023, but also canceled an anti-tank rocket contract of € 285 million, a movement that was later published under domestic pressure.
In February 2024, the Walon region of Belgium suspended two gunpowder licenses after lobby by NGOs.
In the Netherlands, the Hague Court of Appeal ordered a stop to the export of F-35 parts on 12 February 2024; The government appealed and left the current in legal limbo.
The UK survived a similar legal challenge when the Supreme Court ruled on 30 June 2025, that export could continue, even if parts ended up in Gaza.
For Israeli planners, the message is alarming: political sentiment, no matter how sympathetic it sounds, a supply pipeline can close at night. That reality explains the urgency in the Ministry of Defense to expand domestic production lines for everything, from 155 mm shells to precision -based missiles.
Where Jerusalem goes from here
The defense industry of Israel hardly starts all the way again. The country has world -class companies in unmanned systems, rocket café and cyber security. But the Gaza War has exposed a softer lower abdomen: bulk ammunition and basic setting are still obtained abroad, often from allies who are now wary of newspaper photos that show their serial numbers that drew the streets of Rafah.
The civil servant who informed me emphasized that Israel should isolate himself from that vulnerability. “We can no longer assume that our friends keep the warehouses open,” he said. “We need a National Shell Foundry, a national driving gas factory, and we need them yesterday.”
The sudden generosity of Serbia, the loud diplomacy of Hungary and the only air bridge in the Czech Republic, may have bridged the immediate gap. Yet those channels are already closing.
The United States remains the indispensable partner, but also the support of Washington has always supported political circumstances, by congress supervision of following the use of the battlefield. If another front erupts, Israel would be forced again to weigh his operational pace against the risk of bringing a shortage to shells.
War keeps its own ledger. For journalists, that ledger is usually measured in shells and flying hours; For diplomats, signed or deducted in licenses. But for everyone who believes that character is being tested under pressure, the real account reads more than the old saying: “Let me see who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.”
When Israeli cities burned and the majority of Europe called on legal footnotes, it was Serbia that loaded Pallets from 155 mm rounds, the Czech Republic of Hurry Plates, and Hungary used his vetos and withdrawals on behalf of Israel. They are not the greatest economies of the continent, nor the loudest powers, but they were performed when it counted, an action that deserves more than a footnote. Jerusalem must clearly express his gratitude, thank them publicly and weave those gestures in deeper industrial and diplomatic ties.
At the same time, the lesson at home is just as clear: self -reliance is the first shield; Reliable partners are the second. In the next crisis, Israel will both need, and it now knows exactly which capitals they should first call.
