Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called President Trump on Friday to lodge complaints about escalating anti-Israel rhetoric from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and to urge the U.S. to halt weapons sales that would modernize Turkey's air force, according to Israeli and American officials.
The request puts Trump in a tight diplomatic spot as he prepares to meet Erdoğan this week at the NATO summit in Ankara, where a $700 million deal for fighter jet engines and a potential return to the F-35 program are on the table.
Netanyahu's concern centers on Turkey's increasingly hostile public statements toward Israel. Last week, Erdoğan branded Zionism a "genocidal ideology" that threatens Turkish security. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan went further, calling the Israeli government "a burden that humanity can no longer bear" and urging international sanctions.
For Netanyahu, the weapons sales and the inflammatory rhetoric are inseparable. In a Monday appearance on Fox & Friends, he argued that arming Turkey would upset the regional military balance that depends on Israeli air superiority.
"For a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood, an extreme movement that hates America, I don't think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets," Netanyahu said, contending that such sales would destabilize the Middle East.
The pressure from Netanyahu faces significant headwinds. Trump has cultivated strong relationships with both leaders, and the Pentagon is actively reviewing how the U.S. could potentially sell F-35s to Turkey despite its 2019 purchase of Russia's S-400 air defense system, which American officials say could compromise the advanced fighter jet's security.
Vice President Vance told reporters last week that the administration is working to find legal pathways for such sales. "There are certain things that we have to certify have happened in order to comply with American law," Vance said in the Oval Office. "The president has asked us to do that."
Netanyahu's stock in Washington has declined in recent months. U.S. officials, including Vance, have blamed the Israeli leader for making overly optimistic predictions about the Iran conflict that failed to materialize, and the war has dragged down Trump's approval ratings among his political base. A senior administration official summarized the skepticism bluntly: "Bibi made a bunch of promises about the Iran war that didn't come to pass. But what can we do? He'll come. He'll make his promises and then we'll have to check everything out."
One U.S. official described Netanyahu's Friday appeal to Trump as a formal request but acknowledged the limits of its influence. "Netanyahu made an ask and the president heard him. So the president might pass on to Erdoğan the message like, 'Hey, can you just go a little easy on this.' But it is what it is," the official said.
Israel-Turkey tensions have escalated dramatically over two years as both the Gaza war and the Iran conflict have deepened. Turkey remains a critical NATO ally and a regional mediator whose cooperation the Trump administration values, creating competing interests that complicate Netanyahu's lobbying effort.
Netanyahu is scheduled to visit the White House later this month, offering another chance to press his case directly. Neither the Israeli Prime Minister's Office nor the White House commented on Friday's call.
Author James Rodriguez: "Netanyahu's playbook of running to Trump with complaints worked better before his Iran predictions fell apart, and this gambit on Turkish arms sales faces stiff competition from defense contracts and geopolitics."
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