Israel will not oppose the sale of F-35s to the United Arab Emirates, Jerusalem announced on Friday night.
The joint announcement by the offices of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz came after Gantz returned from Washington where he met with his US counterpart Mark Esper and signed a deal that ensures Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region.
The agreement that was signed between Jerusalem and Washington, the statement said, will enable long-term procurement plans that will provide Israel with advanced weapons systems, “significantly upgrade its military capabilities, fortify Israel’s security and regional military superiority and preserve its qualitative military edge in the coming decades.”
During Gantz’s whirlwind visit, he was informed that Washington plans to notify Congress in the near future of its intention to supply the UAE with “certain weapons systems,” likely the advanced F-35 stealth fighter jet.
Gantz flew to Washington on Wednesday night for a “security meeting” with his US counterpart as well as discussions with other Pentagon officials. It was his second flight to the US Capitol in a month following the normalization of ties with the United Arab Emirates which has made clear that it wants to procure the F-35 stealth fighter jet.
The possible sale has caused an uproar in Israel and though Washington has been selling Abu Dhabi millions in military deals, they have been bound to preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME) in the Middle East before selling any advanced weaponry to regional states.In another statement released by Gantz’s office, he claimed that Netanyahu knew about the sale of the F-35 to Abu Dhabi during the negotiations but kept it hidden from the defense establishment.“The Defense Minister considers achieving peace and regional stability a strategic value and therefore led an independent action” with the Trump administration to ensure both the normalization deal with the UAE and Israel’s security, the statement said.
During his visit, the two signed a joint declaration confirming Washington’s strategic commitment to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge in the Middle East and speaking to reporters, a senior defense source said that the document signed was a general commitment and that discussions were ongoing over what Washington will provide Jerusalem to offset the sale of the F-35 to the UAE.
“This is not the end of the story,” said the source, adding that the specifics of “what we are getting and what we aren’t getting and what they’ll sell us later” would be determined in future discussions.
The source confirmed however that the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft that Israel has wanted to procure for several years is once again being considered.
The multirole combat aircraft uses tiltrotor technology, combining the vertical performance of helicopters (such as take off and landings) with the speed, altitude and range of fixed-wing planes, making them the ideal aircraft for sensitive missions as they don’t need runways.
“It was important for me once again to reaffirm the special relationship between our two countries, the commitment we have made to Israel’s security based on our shared values, our shared history, and I want to thank you for your personal efforts in the past few weeks,” Esper said during the visit.
Thanking Esper for his commitment to Israeli security, Gantz mentioned the various discussions which “reassured” Washington’s bi-partisan commitment to Israel’s QME.
“Now that we are entering an era of positive normalization processes in the Middle East, which actually can face an aggressive Iran across the region, this ability of continued cooperation is so very important, and I am looking forward to hosting you in Israel,” he said.
The source also told reporters that the UAE is not the only country that will likely acquire advanced weapons systems from the US following additional normalization agreements between them and Israel.
“There are countries in the region with lots of money and who want to upgrade their militaries, he said adding that “the US has an interest to sell them weapons.”
On Friday evening Israel and Sudan agreed to normalize relations, making Khartoum the third Arab country to make such a move in the past two months following the UAE and Bahrain. The agreement was sealed during a phone call between US President Donald Trump, Netanyahu and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Transitional Council Head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, senior U.S. officials said.
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