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By David Isaac
(November 21, 2025 / JNS) Saudi Crown Prime Mohammed bin Salman received the royal treatment at the White House on Tuesday, with U.S. President Donald Trump ordering up an artillery salute, fighter jet flyover and brass band.
More significantly, the United States and Saudi Arabia finalized a sweeping set of agreements that significantly expand their strategic, economic and defense partnership, including the sale of America’s most advanced fighter plane, the F-35.
The question is: Should Israel be concerned?
At least publicly, the deal has been met with silence both by Israel and by American Jewish organizations. The two notable exceptions are the Zionist Organization of America and Americans for a Safe Israel, which have sharply criticized the F-35 sale, saying it undermines Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge. QME refers to a country’s superiority in advanced technology, training, intelligence and overall military effectiveness.
“They’re selling F 35s, the most highly advanced jet on earth, to a country which has strategic partnerships with two of America’s biggest enemies—China and Iran—and which has a mutual defense agreement with Pakistan,” ZOA President Morton Klein told JNS.
The Saudis themselves are an “Islamic dictatorship,” he added.
Not only Klein is worried. The Israeli Air Force delivered a position paper to Israel’s leadership on Nov. 16 warning that the sale could erode Israel’s military dominance.
Klein said Israeli officials visited Washington, D.C. several weeks ago “begging” the administration not to sell the Saudis its fifth-generation fighters. When they lost that battle, Israel requested that the sale at least be conditioned on the Saudis joining the Abraham Accords. That also didn’t happen, Klein said.
Trump should be more concerned that this technology could ultimately fall into the hands of China, Iran or Pakistan, Klein said. A Pentagon intelligence report expressed fears that China could acquire the F-35 technology through the Saudis, The New York Times reported last week.
Klein said that the deal violates U.S. law, referring to a U.S. legal obligation to maintain Israel’s QME. It’s important that pro-Israel groups register their disapproval, he said. Representatives of AIPAC, the main U.S. pro-Israel lobbying group, told Klein they were against the sale, but didn’t speak up. “We figured it’s a done deal. There’s nothing we can do,” they told him, he said.
Klein acknowledged that Republican senators shared with him this week that the F-35s the Saudis would receive would not be as advanced as those of the Israelis, despite Trump’s White House comments suggesting they would be “top of the line.”
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