Amid F-35 tussle, Gantz says he will work with US to keep Israel’s military edge

Defense Minister Benny Gantz told a visiting American delegation on Sunday that he hoped Israel and the US would continue finding ways to maintain Jerusalem’s quality military edge in the region, in what appeared to refer to possible sales of F-35 fighter jets to the UAE.

“We will work in partnership to advance further agreements and find the right ways to ensure that our military superiority is maintained while safeguarding Israel’s security,” Gantz’s office said the minister told the US delegation.

Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi met with US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner and US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Washington’s special envoy on Iran, Brian Hook, and peace envoy Avi Berkowitz.

The senior White House officials were in the region to promote the recently inked normalization deal between Israel and the UAE.

While the sale of F-35s was not believed to have been directly part of the agreement, officials in Washington and Abu Dhabi have admitted that the normalized ties makes the purchase more likely to go forward — something critics in Israel warn could harm Israel’s so-called qualitative military edge in the region.

The US is legally bound to maintain Israel’s military advantage in the Middle East, though this has not always prevented Washington from approving advanced arms sales to countries in the region. Israel does not have a veto on American arms sales, but rather the US makes its decision based on Pentagon assessments of Israeli military power and how such deals could affect it.

Gantz, according to the statement from his office, hailed the agreement between Israel and the UAE and said during the Sunday meeting that he believes other countries will also establish ties with the Jewish state in the near future. He said the Palestinians, who have denounced the UAE over the deal, should come back to the negotiation table.

“I would like to personally thank Jared Kushner and the delegation for their constructive efforts to establish peace in our region and for the American commitment to Israeli security. I look forward to continuing to work together to advance the strategic interests and joint values shared by our countries,” Gantz is quoted as having said.

Ashkenazi, in his own statement, said the sides discussed “the window of opportunity that has opened for far-reaching strategic changes in the Middle East, the importance of establishing an Israeli embassy in the UAE, and the need to involve additional countries in this process.”

The foreign minister said he also raised the issue is reimposing an arms embargo on Iran and recommended involving European countries in that effort.

Gantz and Ashkenazi wished the American delegation luck on their Monday visit to the UAE where officials from Jerusalem, Washington and Abu Dhabi will meet to further advance the normalization deal.

The plane ferrying the US delegation along with an Israeli delegation led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat will be the first-ever Israeli commercial flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi.

While originally planned to include a security delegation, Israel announced Saturday that it would only be focused on civilian-economic issues, reportedly due to possible issues over the F-35 sale.

Netanyahu met earlier Sunday with the US delegation in Jerusalem and claimed during a subsequent press conference that the normalization deal will pave the way for treaties with more Arab countries since it has removed the “Palestinian veto” on peace between the Jewish state and the Arab world.

Kushner echoed the assertion that other Arab and Muslim states would make peace with Israel and said that Trump, his father-in-law, was “writing a script for a new Middle East.”

Palestinian leaders have sharply criticized the UAE for agreeing to normalize relations with Israel, calling the move despicable and a betrayal.