Israel condemns US-Qatari F-35 warplane purchase despite Abraham Accord

Amid reports of Qatar submitting a request to US to buy the F-35 fighter jets, Israeli intelligence minister Eli Cohen said his country will oppose the purchase. In the state-run press, Israel’s intelligence minister on October 10 said that Israel will raise objections to US’ sale of F-35 fighter jets to Qatar despite the UAE-Israel deal. He emphasised that the nation’s top priority was safeguarding the Israeli military’s might in the region. Eli Cohen’s statement was aired live on Israeli Army Radio and was in response to news agencies' reports about Qatar’s formal request to Washington for the purchase of stealthy F-35 warplanes. 

Earlier, US President Donald Trump told reporters at a White House news conference that Lockheed Martin would strike deal with Emiratis for sale of multi-role, VLO Stealth fighter aircraft that can evade enemy detection and enter the airspace at supersonic speed, armed with fully-fused sensor information.

Although, Trump added, that the UAE will purchase “quite a few” and the United States would sell it to UAE because it “can afford to buy the planes”, adding, an agreement between UAE-US was under review. Notwithstanding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s objections, Trump said, “They’d [Qatar] would like to buy F-35s, we’ll see what happens,” adding, the deal “is under review, and they made a great advance in peace in the Middle East.” 

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Israel’s military superiority 'significant'

Sources of a state-run Israeli daily, Yediot Ahronot revealed that the Israeli PM Netanyahu said that despite the Israel-UAE normalization accord, he strongly opposed the Trump administration’s selling of F 35 warplanes with advanced US weapons systems to the defense forces of Arab Gulf nation. Meanwhile, in his address, Cohen confirmed the claims, saying Israel’s security and military superiority in the region was of utmost significance, adding, the region hadn’t transformed into Switzerland. Qatari request of the fighter planes was made subsequent to the initial purchase request of UAE, according to Ahronot. 

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office issued a statement, saying, Israel strongly condemned the sale of F-35s or any other advanced weaponry “to any country in the Middle East,” despite the US-brokered Abraham Accord for diplomatic ties between the Emiratis and Israel. Sources of the Associated Press agency cited state-run Israeli agencies report, claiming that Netanyahu, had in fact, brokered the UAE-Israel agreement without prior consultation of Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, both of whom have been Israel’s former military chiefs.

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