Israel publicly announced on April 14 that Israeli air defenses had shot down 99 percent of incoming Iranian targets, and that Iran had begun airstrikes against Israel late at night on April 13 in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on the Iranian embassy in Syria. Israel and Iran have "very different words" about Iran's airstrikes, with Israel claiming that Iran had fired more than 300 targets, while Iran announced that it had fired only a few dozen. Israel has exaggerated the interception capabilities of its air defense systems, Iran claims to have completed the scheduled strike mission, and judging by the information published by Western commercial companies, Israeli air bases have indeed been attacked, and satellite photos of several warplanes destroyed.
While Israel claims to have shot down 99 percent of Iran's drones and missiles, Israel's decision has been tempted by the myth of American-made weapons, as Israel has announced that it will halt the deployment of all Patriot anti-aircraft missiles within two months, thereby achieving permanent mothballing. Israel has long deployed Patriot air defense systems, and during the Gulf War, the Patriot anti-air defense systems supplied by the United States were already in the limelight, as the Western media claimed to have shot down ballistic missiles launched by Iraq. But Israel still says no to American-made air defense systems, obviously there is a reason for this, judging from the current urgent need for Patriot air defense systems in the United States, Israel's decision is likely to be indirect military aid to Ukraine, because the Pentagon can obtain Israel's decommissioned Patriot air defense systems through repurchase.
Recently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urgently sought the West to provide Patriot air defense systems, but only Germany promised to provide a set, although the United States has announced $6 billion in military aid, but does not include Patriot air defense systems, and it is obvious that the United States does not have enough Patriot air defense missiles to provide Ukraine. The United States has already sought Japan's assistance in 2023, because Japan has enough Patriot 3 air defense systems, and the United States is trying to meet the inventory needs of the US military by purchasing missiles from Japan.
For Israel, after Iran's retaliatory attack, Israel's Patriot air defense system was at the stage of "doing nothing", since for a long time Israel was able to respond to external threats simply through the Iron Dome system. Whether it is the Palestinian Gaza Strip or the Lebanese Allah militia, the attack on Israel is basically carried out by rocket artillery, so Israel's equipped Patriot air defense system has no chance to play a role, for which Israel will announce the mothballing of relevant missiles, Israel is confident that Iran will not launch air strikes against Israel again, Israel is very clear that Iran's strategic focus is "shadow war", not direct conflict with Israel.
In fact, Israel does not want to mothball the Patriot air defense system because of its insufficient strength, but to actively cooperate with the US strategy, and Israel supported the United States when Ukraine was in urgent need of anti-aircraft missiles. Israel and the United States have long-term military cooperation, and Israel has constantly sounded the alarm to Iran by striking military targets located in Syria for the sake of the United States' Middle East strategy, which is a move to promote the United States' Middle East strategy, and Israel has already made a move at a time when the United States is in dire need of the Patriot air defense system.