Isreal soldiers have been doing a fair amount of fighting over the years too, including the last decade. Maybe each soldier on average isn't the hardened vet the average Ukranian soldier is now, but the amount of instituional knowledge IDF has is not to be sneered at.
It definitely is a political play, like you said. More support from Israel for Ukraine, and maybe less support to Russia. I believe Israel is maintaining some nominal relation to Russia due to their histories.
Read some reviews, the flaws don't sound great. It also didn't get very high ratings, so probably they saw the writing on the wall for this one.
Sleeper hits don't make money in games too, I guess, with the way sales are done. Usually most of the money is made within the first month or so, right? I'm guessing they did some analysis and felt that the money wouldn't be coming in.