Israel is working to gain as much independence as possible in its weapons production, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday, in a development he said was the result of the lessons learned during the past two years of war on multiple fronts.
"I approved, along with the defense minister and finance minister, a sum of NIS 350 billion [$108 billion] over the next decade to build an independent Israeli munitions industry," Netanyahu said in an address at a graduation ceremony for Israeli Air Force pilots.
The move, he said, stemmed from a desire to "reduce our dependence on all players, including friends," after allies including the US, UK, and Germany all imposed various restrictions on weapons sales to Israel since the October 7, 2023, Hamas
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
attack.
Still, he noted, many countries around the world, including Germany, "want to buy from us more and more systems."
The premier has long been calling for Israel to develop its own self-reliant military industry, and in January 2024 announced that the government would invest in a "multi-year plan to free Israel from dependence on external purchases."
The matter returned to the public eye earlier this year as Jerusalem’s European allies began to grow impatient with Israel’s conduct in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
, with some calling for arms embargoes and sanctions.
In that light, Netanyahu briefly caused an uproar in September when he admitted that Israel was facing increased isolation on the world stage and that, to combat that, it would have to become a more self-reliant "super-Sparta" in the years to come.
The remarks sparked outrage and spooked the markets, forcing him to clarify them in a follow-up presser the next day, when he insisted that he had been referring only to the defense ministry rather than the overall Israeli economy.
In his speech on Wednesday, Netanyahu also addressed Israel’s aerial superiority, in what appeared to be a thinly veiled reference to
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
’s quest to receive F-35 fighter jets from the US.
Israel will "prevent whoever must be prevented from receiving these instruments," the premier promised, adding that the Jewish state’s "aerial superiority in the Middle East is a cornerstone of our national security."
Maintaining this, he said, rests on Israel’s skilled pilots and "the best aircraft in the world."
Israel is currently the only country in the Middle East with F-35s in its arsenal, currently operating 45 of the aircraft with another 30 units on order.
During US President Donald Trump
...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!...
’s first term, Washington removed Turkey, a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
ally, from its flagship F-35 fighter jet program, after Ankara purchased the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia.
But now, anxious to bolster its air power, Turkey has proposed to European partners and the US ways it could swiftly obtain the fighter jets as it seeks to make up ground versus regional rivals such as Israel.
Turkey is one of the world’s most outspoken critics of Israel, with President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
often accusing Israel of genocide over the past two years, and praising Hamas.
Further bolstering Israel’s fears, Trump recently announced the sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start..., although US officials and defense experts told Rooters that the jets to be sold to the Saudis will be less advanced than those used by the IDF.