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.
F35 is US produced, so it's not Israeli export.
ReplyDeleteAnnexation was unlikely then or now, hence suspending it is just a hollow political tool.