State Department Approves Weapons Deal with UAE

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made headlines on Tuesday for promising a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” but it was another statement the secretary made that caught the Israeli eye. In a letter to Congress, Pompeo announced that his department would authorize the sale of up to 50 F-35 stealth fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates in a deal worth over $23 billion. While in past months Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted the pending deal was not directly linked with the normalization agreement signed between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi in August, Pompeo’s letter explained that the “historic… Abraham Accords… offer a once in a generation opportunity to positively transform the region’s strategic landscape.” Pompeo also insisted the sale of the advanced airplanes would not harm Israel’s qualitative military edge. Netanyahu has persisted in denying reports that he had secretly agreed to refrain from opposing the deal in Congress – which must approve the sale – in return for the normalization pact with the UAE.