Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called reports that the US will sell F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates in light of their recently established diplomatic relations “fake news.”
Netanyahu sought to break the record following reports from Israeli media that the new agreement between Israel and the UAE would “normalize” their relations and allow the sale of U.S. military equipment, including F-35s.
“The peace agreement with the UAE does not contain any clauses on the matter, and the United States has made it clear to Israel that it will always protect Israel’s qualitative advantage,” Netanyhu said in a statement on Tuesday.
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The Israeli prime minister made his statement in response to an article by the Israeli news store, Yedioth Ahronoth, who first reported the suspicious deal by the Trump administration to sell F-35s to the UAE, which is military. could open deals for the US that went against previous standards in the region.
Netanyahu called the report “false news” and said: “Israel did not give its approval to a single armed deal between the UAE and Israel, despite reports by the media and left wing,” Haaretz reported.
Although The New York Times reported Wednesday night that security officials gave a “classified briefing” about the F-35 to UAE officials prior to the UAE-Israel agreement.
Washington has traditionally refused to accept militaristic deals in the Middle East since the 1970s, in large part because of the perceived threat posed by Israel to the region.
Netanyahu made it clear that Israel would still oppose such a militaristic deal between the US and any Arab nation.
“[Israel] “has opposed the sale of F-35 jets and other advanced weapons of any kind in the Middle East, including Arab states that make peace with the state of Israel,” the statement said.
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The White House has promoted the US brokered deal between the UAE and Israel that has established diplomatic ties, and Trump points out that more countries are on the verge of forming diplomatic ties.
“Other countries, I will tell you now, want to enter into that deal,” Trump said in a White House press release Wednesday. “Countries you would not even want to believe in come to that deal and suddenly you will have peace in the Middle East.”
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Wednesday that she “would not confirm whether comments on proposed defense sales or transfers would be made until they have been formally informed to Congress.”
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Israel is arguably the only country in the Middle East that has F-35s.
Alhough Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said that past U.S. administrations had sold F-16 warplanes to the UAE and F-15 planes to Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported.
