Netanyahu: US assured F-35 sale to Riyadh won’t imperil military edge

Jerusalem has received assurances from the United States that the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Saudi Arabia will not imperil its qualitative military edge, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

Netanyahu, in an interview with the Abu Ali Express platform that was published on Thursday night, said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a phone call they held on Wednesday, expressed his commitment to maintaining the Jewish state’s regional military superiority.

“They didn’t ask us before the sale of the F-35s, but once it happened, I spoke with him and made sure of it,” the prime minister said, adding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “didn’t get everything he wanted.”

The Abu Ali Express interview with Netanyahu was posted hours after a spokeswoman for his office made similar remarks to the press.

Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump are both committed to upholding the “long-standing understanding that Israel maintains the qualitative edge when it comes to its defense,” Shosh Bedrosian said, speaking from the Jewish state’s capital during a briefing for reporters.

“That has been true yesterday. That has been true today. And the prime minister believes that will be true tomorrow and in the future, of course,” she added, responding to a question from Reuters.

Thursday’s comments marked Jerusalem’s first official public remarks on the sale to Riyadh, which Trump first confirmed ahead of a meeting with Prince Mohammed earlier this week.

Speaking alongside the prince in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said Jerusalem had been made aware of the arrangement with Riyadh.

Israel would “like you to get planes of reduced caliber,” Trump told the prince, as reporters looked on. “I don’t think that makes you too happy.

“As far as I’m concerned, I think they are both at a level where they should get top of the line,” Trump said of Jerusalem and Riyadh.

However, Reuters cited U.S. officials and defense experts as saying on Wednesday that the F-35 jets Washington intends to sell Saudi Arabia will be less advanced than those operated by the Israeli Air Force.

Israel’s military has unique permission to modify F-35 fighter jets, allowing it to integrate its own weapons systems and add radar-jamming and other upgrades without requiring U.S. approval.

Jerusalem has reportedly signaled its opposition to the proposed sale of 48 fighter jets to Riyadh. Outgoing Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer raised concerns regarding the sale during a meeting with top officials in Washington last week, Kan News reported on Saturday.

Two Israeli officials told Axios on Nov. 15 that Jerusalem had asked the Trump administration to condition any F-35 sale on Riyadh fully normalizing diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

Trump on Tuesday would not confirm reports Israel asked that the sale be conditioned on Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords.

Currently, the IDF is the only military in the Middle East that has the F-35. Washington previously mulled selling F-35s to the United Arab Emirates, subject to several security guarantees, but the deal fell through due to the Biden administration’s demand to restrict the use of the stealth fighter jets.

The Israel Defense Forces has raised a formal objections to the sale, warning the political echelon that the move could harm the IDF’s qualitative military edge.

An Israeli Air Force position paper prepared for Jerusalem’s political leadership warns that long-range operations carried out with the F-35 fleet rely on exclusive access to the jets.

According to the IAF’s assessment, the deployment of identical stealth jets by Riyadh could undercut the Jewish state’s operational advantage.

The document also warned that if Saudi Arabia were allowed to purchase F-35 squadrons from Lockheed Martin, the deal could delay existing Israeli orders and interfere with the IAF’s modernization plans.