WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday (Jul 6) urged the United States not to sell its F-35 fighter jets or components to Türkiye, arguing it would “upset the power balance” in the region.
US President Donald Trump travels later Monday to Ankara for a NATO summit, and his visit could be seen by the Turks as an opportunity to secure acquisition of dozens of jet engines and potential readmission to the F-35 fighter jet programme.
The Israeli prime minister however warned it would be a mistake for Washington to reward Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom Netanyahu said “calls openly for the annihilation of Israel,” with advanced military technology.
“I don’t think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets, because that’ll upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also by, I think, by America’s posture in the Middle East,” Netanyahu told Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends.”
He pointed to multiple recent verbal attacks by Turkish officials against Israel, including by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who during an interview with CNN Turk last week called Israel “the world’s problem” and said “these people have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear.”
As Netanyahu described it to Fox, Fidan “said that the Jewish state hasn’t a place among humanity – basically it has to be wiped out.”
Last month, Trump promised to make Erdogan “very happy” when asked about Türkiye looking to secure F110 jet engines and regaining access to the F-35 programme.
