Israel Publicly Refuses Selling F-35 Jets to Qatar

Israeli Minister of Intelligence Eli Cohen on Sunday affirmed his country's opposition to Qatar's request to purchase advanced F-35 fighters from the United States, citing the need to "preserve Israel's qualitative military advantage."

Cohen said, that his country will reject any deal to sell American F-35 fighters to Qatar.

He stressed the need to conserve the Israeli military superiority in the region, even if this "mandates" the normalization of relations with the Gulf emirate.

Cohen revealed these statements to the Israeli Army Radio when he was asked about a Reuters report that the Gulf state submitted a formal request to Washington to purchase combat aircraft.

In response to the question whether Tel Aviv intends to oppose the deal, he said, "The answer is yes. Our security and military superiority in the region is our priority.''

Doha officially excludes the possibility of normalizing relations with Tel Aviv before resolving the conflict with the Palestinians. Until now, there was no comment from Doha about the statements of Cohen.

It is noteworthy that the United Arab Emirates, which signed an agreement to normalize relations with Israel, has also requested the purchase of the most advanced American warfighters.

The administration of US President Donald Trump is expected to refer the request to Congress, to determine if it affects Tel Aviv.

While Cohen revealed that other countries he did not mention made secret requests to buy these fighters.