US Senator grills State Department official on potential F-35 sale to UAE
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Robert Menendez said the possible sale of the advanced fighter jet to the United Arab Emirates could undermine Israel's military superiority in the region.
Top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez said today that the proposed US sale of F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) undermines Israel’s military superiority in the Middle East. His comments came just two days after Israel’s top defense official visited Washington to discuss the matter.
Menendez, of New Jersey, questioned US Secretary of Political Affairs David Hale extensively on the reported sale at a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
"It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if Israel’s the only country in the Middle East that has F-35s, then selling it to someone else no longer produces that qualitative military edge,” said Menendez.
The Donald Trump administration is reportedly working on the sale of F-35 aircraft to the UAE.
