Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked President Trump to curb Turkish President Erdogan’s anti-Israel rhetoric and hold off on arms sales that would modernize Turkey’s air force.
As President Trump gets ready to sit down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week, on the sidelines of the NATO summit, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a different agenda in mind. He wants Trump to pressure Erdogan to tone down his anti-Israel comments, and he’s also lobbying against any weapons deals that would give Turkey’s air force a boost.
According to a report from Axios, the two leaders spoke by phone last Friday, during which Netanyahu voiced frustration over Erdogan’s increasingly harsh statements about Israel. He used the call to push Trump to hold back on any arms sales that could help Turkey upgrade its military aircraft capabilities.
Relations between Israel and Turkey have been deteriorating for roughly two years now, largely because of the fighting in Gaza and Iran. The tricky part for Netanyahu is that Trump values his relationship with Erdogan just as much, since Turkey functions as both a major NATO military power.
Making Netanyahu’s position even shakier is the fact that his influence in Washington has diminished somewhat in recent months, largely a byproduct of the Iran war denting Trump’s approval numbers and splitting opinion within his base of supporters.
Fighter Jets and Engines on the Table
Trump departs for Turkey on Monday, where beyond the formal NATO proceedings, he’s expected to discuss a 700 million dollar agreement to provide new jet engines for the Turkish air force. There’s also talk of something bigger: bringing Turkey back into the F-35 program after its removal in 2019, a consequence of Ankara’s decision to buy Russia’s S-400 missile defense system, which American officials worried could expose sensitive F-35 technology.
Turkish Officials Escalate Their Language
Netanyahu’s objections aren’t just about weapons sales, they’re rooted in what he sees as a genuine shift in tone from Ankara. Erdogan recently described Zionism as “a genocidal ideology” and framed it as an existential danger to Turkey.
His foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, went further still in a televised interview, branding Israel’s government “a burden that humanity can no longer bear” and calling for the international community to impose sanctions on the country.
