If Israel didn’t receive American aid, would it buy U.S. F-35 jets?
Development on the F-35 has not yet been completed, and it is doubtful if it ever really will be. It is a plane that no Israeli pilot has ever flown or will ever fly before it lands in Israel. Israel is not allowed to attach its own missiles to the jet. Israel is not even allowed to provide its own maintenance for the jets without U.S. authorization. In other words, at any given time, the U.S. can neutralize Israel’s ability to use the jets. This deal has given us an air force on a leash.
Furthermore, the F-35 cannot reach the nuclear targets in Iran and its stealth version cannot even carry ammunition necessary for those targets. (The F-15I can with no trouble.) A superficial overview of professional aviation websites reveals that nobody disputes that the F-35 is one of the biggest white elephants in history.
So why is Israel purchasing this super-sophisticated piece of junk? For the same reason we bought the U.S. firefighting planes – the planes that at the moment of truth last week could not take off because it was too windy.
Have you ever asked yourself why an insolvent country like Greece has the most efficient firefighting plane in the world – the Bombardia 415 (which is much more efficient than the U.S. Supertanker) – while Israel, with one of the best air forces in the world, does not have a similar plane and must wait for the Greek one to arrive?
The answer is simple: American “aid.”
Israel preferred to buy U.S. planes, purchased with U.S. aid money. Who knows how many houses burned in Haifa while we waited for the Greek planes to arrive?
If U.S. “aid” has harmed Israel’s firefighting capabilities, we can just imagine how much it has harmed Israel’s security capabilities – not to mention its economy.