UAE Official: Israel Deal Should Remove Any Hurdle to F-35 Sale
The United Arab Emirates has a legitimate request to acquire the F-35 fighter jet and its agreement to normalize ties with Israel should remove “any hurdle” for the United States to proceed with the sale, a senior Emirati official said on Thursday.
“We have legitimate requests that are there. We ought to get them … the whole idea of a state of belligerency or war with Israel no longer exists,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said in an online interview with the Atlantic Council.
“The UAE already indicated it wants F-35s six years ago,” Gargash said. “It was on the table. We have legitimate requests that are there and we ought to get the jets. Now that the whole idea of a state of war with Israel will no longer exist and therefore it will make it easier for the U.S. to sell us the jets.”
Gargash said that the normalization agreement with Israel will be “a warm peace, because we haven’t fought a war against Israel, unlike Egypt and Jordan.”
He added that the UAE Embassy in Israel will be in Tel Aviv.
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