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Reuters Ammar Awad
In an unprecedented move, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not being informed of the negotiations on the US sale of advanced F-35 fighters to the United Arab Emirates.
Gantz announced in a statement that after the signing of the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, he discovered that discussions were taking place about the export of advanced American weapons, including modern fighters, to the United Arab Emirates, which which indicates that these negotiations were known to Israeli officials participating in the normalization negotiations, but that they concealed them from the defensive leadership who did not. Participate in standardization talks.
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This statement is an unprecedented step by which Gantz revealed the seriousness of the differences within the ruling coalition in Israel regarding the “F-35” deal between the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
This comes just hours after Netanyahu and Gantz announced in a joint statement Friday that Israel had agreed to export “certain weapons systems” from Washington to Abu Dhabi, along with the announcement that Israel and Sudan reached an agreement to normalize the weapons. relations mediated by the United States.
Gantz and Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi (belonging to the “Blue and White” coalition headed by the Defense Minister) did not participate in the normalization negotiations with the Emirates, which were led by the Israeli side by the ambassador of the Hebrew state in Washington , Ron Dermer.
Netanyahu later clarified that he had decided not to inform Gantz and Ashkenazi about the negotiation with the UAE to prevent information leaks, fearing that normalization plans would be undermined by regional opponents.
Netanyahu had previously denied reports that he had secretly approved the export of modern American warplanes to the United Arab Emirates among the conditions proposed by Abu Dhabi to normalize relations.
Gantz was among Israeli officials who opposed selling the F-35 to the United Arab Emirates, warning that the deal could undermine Israel’s military superiority in the region.
Source: The Times of Israel
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