(Newswire.net— August 20, 2020) —
The administration of US President Donald Trump plans to sell F-35 fighter planes and advanced drones to the United Arab Emirates, which could be a “game-changer” for the Middle East, Forbs reports.
Allegedly, the deal is based on a secret clause in the agreement on the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and UAE, according to Israeli media. This puts an end to Israel’s long-standing opposition to the sale of strategic weapons systems to other countries in the region.
The United States has traditionally refrained from selling advanced weapons systems to Arab countries, in order to maintain Israel’s superiority in the region. The establishment of full Israeli diplomatic relations in the UAE was announced last week, based on an agreement that includes the suspension of Israeli plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, insists that annexation is still on the agenda, despite an agreement to stop the plans from going through, Israeli media reports.
Sources quoted by the Israeli media confirmed that Muhammad bin Zayed al Nahyan conditioned the agreement with the sale of weapons worth several billion dollars.
Emirate Secretary of State Anwar Gargash said last week that the agreement dealt a “death blow” to the annexation, and Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner said on Monday that the United States would not approve the move for “some time”.
Netanyahu’s cabinet said there was no change in Israel’s opposition to arms sales to any Middle Eastern country. After the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the United States gave assurances to Israel that it would be able to maintain military superiority and that advanced weapons systems would not be sold to any Middle Eastern country without Israeli consent.
From then on, that agreement was respected until the deal between the UAE and the Jewish state, which was mediated by the USA.
Trump has publicly announced his intention to sell strategic weapons to the UAE and Saudi Arabia but was blocked by Congress when he adopted an embargo on such sales last year, according to Israeli media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied newspaper reports that the agreement on the normalization of relations with the United Arab Emirates includes approval for the United States to sell their best fighter planes and drones to Abu Dhabi. Netanyahu announced on Twitter that the report of the daily “Jediot Ahronota” about that was “completely false news”.
The statement reads that establishing relations with the Emirates does not include any agreement worth billions of dollars. It is also stated that “the Prime Minister expressed that firm position several times before the American administration, and that has not changed.”
Netanyahu’s cabinet also appears to have denied a point that was hinted to in newspaper reports- that defense officials were not informed of the clause approving the arms deal.