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.
According to Haaretz, Netanyahu has found Turkey as a new rival as the Israeli elections are looming.
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.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that the policies of Netanyahu’s government are not only a problem for us.
“His policies and his government are a burden for Israel, a burden for the region, and a burden and a threat to international security. Wherever you go, everybody agrees that Netanyahu and his policies are a threat to international security and economic security. And I think Trump gets that too.”
Meanwhile, Zionist reports underlined that Netanyahu is behaving hysterically due to the findings of the polls which indicate his loss in the upcoming elections.
Source: Al-Manar English Website