Israel concerned about US-Saudi military deal
Israeli officials voiced concern over the $110 billion deal US President Donald Trump reached with Saudi Arabia over the weekend, Defense News reported.
The agreement is the largest defense deal in history, and could rise to as much as $350 billion.
“This is a matter that really should trouble us,” Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said at the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday. “We have also to make sure that those hundreds of billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia will not, by any means, erode Israel’s qualitative edge, because Saudi Arabia is still a hostile country without any diplomatic relations and nobody knows what the future will be.”
Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz supported a regional coalition with Saudi Arabia, but said that there were limits to the amount of military aid to Saudi Arabia Israel could accept. “A regional coalition should be built under American leadership to block and push back Iran. At the same time Israel’s qualitative military edge should be maintained.”
