The request comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to press for his country’s return to the F-35 program during this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, despite bipartisan opposition in Washington.

Speaking during an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Netanyahu warned that Turkey’s current leadership poses a serious regional threat. “Turkey is a great country, but it’s governed by a man who calls openly for the annihilation of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “He occupies half of Cyprus, a NATO country. He’s threatening Greece, another NATO country. And he talks openly about conquering Jerusalem.”

Netanyahu cautioned that allowing Turkey back into the F-35 program—or supplying it with engines for advanced fighter aircraft—would have serious consequences. “I don’t think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets because that’ll upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also by America’s posture in the Middle East.”

The F-35 is widely regarded as one of the world’s most advanced multirole fighter aircraft. Israel currently operates a fleet of more than three dozen of the stealth jets.

Turkey was expelled from the multinational F-35 program in 2019 after purchasing Russia’s S-400 air defense system. U.S. officials argued that the Russian missile platform could be used to gather sensitive intelligence about the F-35’s capabilities.

Although Turkey fields NATO’s second-largest military after the United States, it has frequently clashed with fellow alliance members, particularly Greece, over longstanding territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea.

In 2019, Erdogan’s government also faced sanctions from the United States and several European nations after launching a major military offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

Turkey’s relationship with Russia has likewise been marked by both cooperation and conflict. In 2015, Turkish forces shot down a Russian Su-24 fighter jet after it entered Turkish airspace, an incident for which Erdogan later apologized.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Erdogan sought to portray Turkey as maintaining ties with both sides, declaring in 2023: “I trust Russia just as much as I trust the West.”

Despite that statement, Turkey has supplied military assistance to Ukraine, supported Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO, and worked to counter Russian influence in the Black Sea. At the same time, Ankara previously delayed NATO membership bids by Finland and Sweden over Sweden’s handling of Kurdish activists.

Relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated sharply since Israel launched its military campaign against Hamas following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist massacre.

Netanyahu accused Erdogan’s government of embracing increasingly extreme anti-Israel rhetoric. “His foreign minister, his number two, said that the Jewish state hasn’t a place among humanity,” Netanyahu vented. “Basically, it has to be wiped out. His interior minister, he looks forward to be the government, governor of Jerusalem.”

The prime minister went on to describe the Turkish government as “a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood, an extreme movement that hates America and chants ‘Death to America’ from that side of the spectrum.”

Despite Netanyahu’s concerns, President Trump has repeatedly praised Erdogan in the past, describing the Turkish leader as an “extraordinary leader” and a “good friend.”

{Matzav.com}