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Trump okays sale of F-22 Raptor fighter jets to Israel as UAE plans to buy F-35: Report

A US Air Force F-22 Raptor lands at Gwangju Air Base in the southwestern city of Gwangju, South Korea, on May 16, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump has okayed the idea of selling the F-22 Raptor stealth aircraft to Israel to maintain Tel Aviv's alleged “military edge” in the Middle East as Washington plans to sell F-35s to the United Arab Emirates.

The London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper cited senior sources in Tel Aviv as saying that US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper had told Israeli officials during a visit to Israel last week that the Trump administration had approved the sale of F-22s and precision-guided bombs to Israel.

Israeli officials asked to buy the F-22 to maintain Israel’s alleged “military edge” in the region after the US agreed to sell F-35 fighters to the United Arab Emirates, the Israeli daily Haaretz said.

Last month, the Trump administration notified Congress of its intent to sell F-35s to the UAE.

The reports of the US intention began after Israel and the UAE on August 13 agreed to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two sides.

The agreement sparked anger in the Middle East and elsewhere, with Palestinian leaders describing it as a “stab in the back” by an Arab country.

The New York Times reported on September 3 that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had privately gone along with a plan for the US administration to sell advanced weapons, in particular US-made F-35 stealth fighter jets, to the UAE despite his public opposition. Netanyahu later denied the report.

The F-22 cannot be exported under US federal law to protect its stealth technology and classified features. Customers for US fighters are acquiring earlier designs such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon or the newer F-35 Lightning II, which contains technology from the F-22 but was designed to be cheaper, more flexible, and available for export. In September 2006, Congress upheld the ban on foreign F-22 sales.

According to antiwar.com, the timing might also not be on the side of this sale.

“President [Bill] Clinton approved the idea of such a sale in 2001, and by the time he left office it was ultimately forgotten. Israel has often sought to buy the F-22, but the US hasn’t even made them since 2011, so this seems a rare opportunity for them.”


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