Saudi Arabia’s plan to get F-35 advanced stealth fighter jets from the US got a major fillip last day when US President Donald Trump stating that he was considering agreeing to the deal. His statement comes in the wake of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s impending visit to Washington.
But, latest reports hint that Israel is lobbying hard to ensure Trump places conditions on the monarchy before the sale of the F-35s, according to Axios.
The report added that while Israel isn’t averse to the idea of the US selling the jets to Saudi Arabia, it wants to ensure that the sale needs to takes place as part of full normalisation of relations with Israel. “We told the Trump administration that the supply of F-35s to Saudi Arabia needs to be subject to Saudi normalisation with Israel," one Israeli official said.
Netanyahu believes that selling the advanced stealth jets to the Kingdom without getting any diplomatic deliverables in return would be "a mistake and counterproductive."
That said, Tel Aviv has not yet opposed the idea. "Unlike the supply of F-35s to Turkey that we strongly oppose, we are less concerned about such a weapons system in Saudi Arabia if it's part of a regional security cooperation as part of the Abraham Accords, like we have with the United Arab Emirates," a second Israeli official told Axios.
Israel is the only country in the region that currently has F-35 fighter jets. So, there is a concern that Saudi Arabia getting hold of the advanced jet would mean that Israel loses its all-important qualitative military edge (QME), a long-standing security doctrine guaranteeing the Jewish state's survival in the region. The F-35 is an extremely advanced fighter jet that can reach a top speed of Mach 1.6, roughly 1,200 miles per hour. Each jet costs at least $101.5 million.
Also, the report hinted that Israel would insist that the jets wouldn’t be deployed to the Saudi air forces bases in the Western parts of the country. "It takes minutes for an F-35 to fly from Saudi Arabia to Israel," the official said.
Such a defence deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel could, however, reset the political and security landscape in the Middle East, especially strengthening the US influence in the region.
