Ben-Gvir to JNS: Israel ‘must maintain’ aerial superiority

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Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told JNS on Monday that the Jewish state “must maintain” aerial superiority in the region, commenting on the possible U.S. sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia. “We are in the Middle East—we cannot get confused. We extend a hand to anyone who truly wants to extend a hand and not harm the State of Israel, but we must preserve our superiority,” Ben-Gvir told JNS.

Jerusalem has reportedly signaled its opposition to the proposed sale of 48 fighter jets to Riyadh. Outgoing Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer raised concerns regarding the sale during a meeting with top officials in Washington last week, Kan News reported on Saturday.

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he was considering supplying Saudi Arabia with the state-of-the-art stealth warplanes. “They wanna buy a lot of jets,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “I’m looking at that. They’ve asked me to look at it. They want to buy a lot of ’35,’ but they want to buy actually more than that, fighter jets.” (Read More)