Israel pressing Trump include Israel normalization in F-35 jets sale to Saudi Arabia

Israel is lobbying US President Donald Trump to secure a normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia, using the sale of F-35 jets as leverage.

The New Arab Staff 16 November, 2025

Israel is urging US President Donald Trump to condition Saudi Arabia's purchase of F-35 fighter jets on normalizing ties with Tel Aviv, Axios reported, citing two Israeli officials.

President Trump, who is set to host Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Washington next week, said on Friday that he will discuss Israel normalization with the Saudi leader.

"We told the Trump administration that the supply of F-35s to Saudi Arabia needs to be subject to Saudi normalization with Israel," one Israeli official told Axios, adding that it would be a "mistake" not to squeeze diplomatic concessions out of the de facto Saudi ruler.

"Unlike the supply of F-35s to Turkey that we strongly oppose, we are less concerned about such a weapons system in Saudi Arabia if it's part of a regional security cooperation as part of the Abraham Accords, like we have with the United Arab Emirates," another Israeli official was quoted as saying.

Israel is currently the only country in the Middle East to have the US-made F-35 jet, in line with Washington's long-standing policy of maintain Israel's qualitative military edge over its Arab neighbours. 

Before Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, reports indicated that US efforts to broker a normalization deal between Saudi and Israel were on track. However, amid growing global outrage over Israel's atrocities in Gaza, Riyadh has ruled out a deal without a clear path to Palestinian statehood.

The Israeli officials who spoke to Axios appeared hopeful that Trump could change this stance, however, a report published by Haaretz on Sunday indicated that Riyadh will not sign a deal with Israel's current government.

The report quoted Palestinian officials who said that Riyadh had signalled to Ramallah in recent days that no deal will be signed with the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Saudi Arabia with not grant such a gift and legitimacy to the government even at the price of one deal or another that includes F-35 planes," one Palestinian official was quoted as saying.

Source: Israel wants normalization deal as part of US-Saudi F-35 sale


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 Israel lobbying US to condition sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia on diplomatic normalization

By  Shane Galvin

New York Post, Noember 15, 2025

Israel is not opposed to the US sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia — but is insisting Washington condition it on whether Riyadh and Jerusalem make diplomatic progress.

“We told the Trump administration that the supply of F-35s to Saudi Arabia needs to be subject to Saudi normalization with Israel,” an unnamed Israeli official told Axios.

President Donald Trump and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at their meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May.AFP via Getty Images

Unlike the supply of F-35s to Turkey, which Israel strongly opposes, “we are less concerned about such weapons system in Saudi Arabia if its part of a regional security cooperation as part of the Abraham Accords, like we have with the United Arab Emirates,” one of the officials told the outlet.

The report comes as President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are scheduled to meet Tuesday at the White House and discuss a US-Saudi mutual defense agreement that could include a sale of the supersonic F-35s.

“It takes minutes for an F-35 to fly from Saudi Arabia to Israel,” one of the officials told Axios, adding that Jerusalem is insisting that Saudi jets not be allowed to station in the western part of the country.

Not conditioning the sale on normalized relations would be “counterproductive,” an official told the outlet.

The stealth F-35, which can reach a top speed of Mach 1.6, roughly 1,200 miles per hour, comes in several advanced variants — F-35A which is for conventional takeoffs and landings, F-35B which can land vertically, and F-35C which is designed to land on aircraft carriers. Each jet costs at least $101.5 million.

An F-35B Lightning II, one of the advanced variations of the fighter jet that Saudi Arabia has its eyes on purchasing.Getty Images

Israel is the only country in the Middle East with F-35s, with 45 in its arsenal and 30 more on order, the Times of Israel reported.

Trump told reporters Friday that Saudi Arabia wants “a lot” of fighter jets, with one estimate suggesting the kingdom could shell out billions for 48 planes.

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In May, President Trump signed the largest defense sales agreement in history with Saudi Arabia, worth $142 billion dollars.

That agreement called for the US to provide Saudi with “state-of-the-art warfighting equipment and services from over a dozen US defense firms,” the White House said.

Trump said at the time it was his “fervent hope, wish, and even my dream that Saudi Arabia” would join the Abraham Accords, which have normalized relations between Israel and Muslim-majority nations in the region.

Saudi Arabia has said it wants Israel to agree to securing Palestinian statehood before signing on to the Abraham Accords.

Bin Salman will be part of a US-Saudi Business Council meeting at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday where he will meet with dozens of CEOs from around the country.

The trip is the crown prince’s first to the United States since he approved the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

Source: Israel lobbying US to condition sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia on diplomatic normalization | New York Post

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