Officials: Netanyahu Didn’t Object to UAE F-35 Sales During Peace Talks

Netanyahu denies claim, says never consented to UAE sales

The Trump Administration continues to advance a plan to sell advanced arms and warplanes to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of the deal last month for UAE-Israel peace. Historically this trade would depend on an Israeli authorization, and the Israeli government is opposed.

This would be an anomaly, but US officials say that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had privately acquiesced to the deal as part of the peace talks with the UAE, and didn’t start objecting until well after the deal was announced.

Netanyahu says this is a “false allegation” and that he never consented to any UAE arms sales. The US seems to be advancing based on what they took as consent from before, and the UAE is genuinely irked that Israel promised not to object to the sales, only to do exactly that at the first opportunity.

In the past this would’ve been a much bigger problem for the US, given the power of the Israeli Lobby. The Trump Administration’s high priority for increasing arms sales, however, means that even a superficial way around Netanyahu’s objection will be used.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.