Turkey

DIPLOMATIC AFFAIRS: Netanyahu’s campaign against selling F-35s to Ankara reflects a growing conviction in Jerusalem that Turkey is shaping up to be Israel’s principal long-term challenge.

Both Turkey and its ally, Azerbaijan, immediately condemned the Cabinet vote; the chief rabbi of Azerbaijan’s Ashkenazi congregation in Baku, Shneur Segal, has already urged Israel to reverse it.

Erdogan sees himself as the exiled “governor of Jerusalem” and seeks hegemony in the Middle East as the restorer of the Ottoman Empire.

Netanyahu also warned Trump against approving the F-35 deal with Turkey during the conversation.

Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said Greece "would not welcome" Turkey receiving either F-35 fighter jets or engines for its next-generation Turkish "Kaan" combat aircraft.

The debate over the F-35 goes beyond the aircraft themselves. It concerns how the United States balances its relations with its two important allies in the eastern Mediterranean.

Israel watches Turkey’s rise with concern as F-35 talks, Hamas’s refusal to disarm and Iran’s uranium stockpile reshape the regional threat map.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, "I did have issues, and I still do. But Spain, they came back all the way today. Spain was very generous today."

The deal would depend on US President Donald Trump reversing the ban on Ankara's purchase of the latest-generation American fighter jets, the report noted. 

"I'll give a little warning: We're going to hit them hard tonight," Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in Turkey before his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.