From the Liveblog of
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Lapid: Sale of F-35s to Saudis was never part of normalization talks
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid lashes out against the government’s “weakness,” following media reports that Israel does not object to the United States supplying Saudi Arabia with F-35 stealth fighter jets.
“As someone who participated in dozens of discussions on a normalization arrangement with Saudi Arabia, an F-35 deal was never part of a normalization agreement, because it was clear that Israel’s security requires maintaining its qualitative military edge,” states Lapid.
“It is unacceptable that due to the weakness of the government, we are giving up on Israeli security interests and allowing the F-35 deal.”
Israel has insisted that any transfer of such advanced aircraft be conditioned on the normalization of relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem, Channel 12 and Axios reported on Saturday.
The Times of Israel Community.