Mike Pompeo: F-35 sale to Abu Dhabi was 'critical' for UAE-Israel peace

 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/pompeo-f-35-was-critical-to-uae-israel-deal-670609

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the sale of F-35 aircraft to the United Arab Emirates was "a critical part" of the normalization deal between Abu Dhabi, Israel and Washington.

In an interview in Yediot Ahronot, portions of which were published Thursday morning, Pompeo contradicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contention that the sale of the F-35 aircraft was not a core component of the August 2020 trilateral negotiations.

Netanyahu has tried to present the UAE deal as "peace for peace" to reject the paradigm in which Arab states only make peace or normalize with Israel if they receive land or some other benefit in return.

The prime minister has also de-emphasized his suspension of his plans to annex the West Bank on July 1, 2020, saying the option was still open to him - though the UAE has said its normalization deal took that completely off the table.