As the United States and Iran reescalate their fighting, curiously it is not Iran but Turkey that has topped the list of Israel’s talking points in recent days. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is deeply troubled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s hints that he may sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. These state-of-the-art aircraft could significantly erode Israel’s military advantage in the region. Netanyahu is clearly alarmed about Trump’s growing admiration for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ahead of the NATO summit that took place in Ankara earlier this week, Trump even claimed that he was coming only because Erdoğan was hosting it.
In a recent interview with CNN, Netanyahu called Turkey “a regime that’s infected with the Muslim Brotherhood, which hates the United States.” During the interview, he confirmed that he explicitly told Trump that the sale of advanced fighter jets to Turkey would upset the power balance in the Middle East. The U.S. president has been dismissive of Netanyahu’s concerns, claiming that he personally persuaded the Turkish leader not to join Iran’s fight against Israel.
As the United States and Iran reescalate their fighting, curiously it is not Iran but Turkey that has topped the list of Israel’s talking points in recent days. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is deeply troubled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s hints that he may sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. These state-of-the-art aircraft could significantly erode Israel’s military advantage in the region. Netanyahu is clearly alarmed about Trump’s growing admiration for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ahead of the NATO summit that took place in Ankara earlier this week, Trump even claimed that he was coming only because Erdoğan was hosting it.
