Trump Decides Israel Is Less Important Than Conquering Russia

This will mean an enormous boost for the corporations that supply America’s military, and for the militaries of America’s allies. The future that Trump envisions will be heavenly for the investors in the war industries. This is his actual MAGA.

Trump-Erdogan-NATO-Summit — Turkeish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump during the NATO Summit at Bestepe Presidential Compound in Ankara on Wednesday. | AFP-JIJI

International relations are the most complex topic in human relations. The international arms traffic is near the pinnacle of it. Turkey and Israel are at least nominal enemies of each other; and, so, Israel cannot tolerate that Israel’s main source of weapons and of foreign support, the U.S., might become even more committed to Turkey than it is to Israel — that could endanger the continued existence of Israel. On July 6th the New York Times headlined “Trump Expected to Tell Turkey He Is Ready to Restore Access to F-35 Jets: The president, who is headed to a NATO summit in Ankara this week, had imposed the ban himself amid concerns that giving Turkey the jets could allow Russia to learn about their stealth technology.” and opened:

President Trump is expected to tell President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey that he is prepared to restore the country to a program that would allow it to purchase F-35 stealth fighter jets, a move that would reverse a ban Mr. Trump himself imposed seven years ago on national security grounds.

But the shift by Mr. Trump, who is heading to a NATO summit in Ankara this week and has said he was preparing to bring a gift that would make Mr. Erdogan “very happy,” could face opposition in Congress, which could seek to block it.

Four senior administration officials described the coming change in policy, after weeks of behind-the-scenes work by national security officials to break the stalemate. Though officials differed some on the details of how Mr. Trump would seek to work around congressional and legal restrictions on his action, they said they expected Mr. Trump to at least signal his intent to get the fighter jets into Turkey’s hands — though it is uncertain when.

It is unclear exactly what Mr. Trump will say, and officials cautioned that he could change his mind. He is unpredictable even to his own staff. But administration officials suggested there could be an exchange of letters on the subject between the two leaders to get the process underway. When asked for comment, a White House spokeswoman pointed to the president’s past comments.

In 2019, during Mr. Trump’s first term, Turkey was thrown out of the F-35 program because it bought advanced S-400 antiaircraft systems from Russia. At the time, Washington’s fear was that Turkey could train the S-400s on the newly provided F-35s, and that Russia would learn how to deal with the fighter jet’s stealth and other missile-avoidance capabilities.

But Mr. Erdogan ranks among the strongmen leaders Mr. Trump most admires, and Vice President JD Vance recently indicated that Mr. Trump had ordered administration officials to find a way to get the Turkish leader the jets he has made clear he desires.

They must overcome a law passed by Congress in 2020 that blocks the sale of F-35s unless the administration concludes that Turkey no longer possesses the Russian systems.

It appears that in order to accomplish that goal, Turkey’s S-400s — many of which are still in their shipping containers — may be handed over to a third party, according to one administration official who has been deeply involved in the talks.

Furthermore, “F-35s paid for by Turkey but never delivered are stored in the United States, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.”

OnJuly 7th, CNN bannered “Exclusive: Netanyahu tells CNN he opposes US sale of F-35 jets to Turkey”, and opened:

Just hours after President Donald Trump said he’s considering selling F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke against the potential move, even as he downplayed divisions between the two world leaders.

In an interview with CNN, Netanyahu warned that the sale of America’s most advanced fighter aircraft “doesn’t make Turkey a friendly state to the United States.” In part of an escalating dispute with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Netanyahu described Ankara as “a regime that’s infected with the Muslim Brotherhood, which hates the United States.”

“He’s not exactly a model ally of the United States,” Netanyahu told CNN’s Dana Bash. “He threatens to destroy my country, the one and only Jewish state.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in an interview with CNN Turk last week that Israel has “become a burden that humanity can no longer bear,” prompting Israel’s foreign minister to condemn the remarks as “textbook incitement to genocide.”

Three years back, on 8 July 2023, NATO’s main PR arm, the Atlantic Council, headlined “A looming US-Turkey F-16 deal is about much more than Sweden’s NATO bid” and explained that NATO-member Turkey’s reason for having blocked till then the accession of Sweden into NATO was largely (if not mainly) in order to gain concessions from the U.S. in order to continue Turkey’s right as a NATO member to purchase F-16s and F-35s. During Trump’s first Administration, Trump and nearly 100% of Congress created the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which was targeted especially against Russia, which had just sold to Turkey Russia’s S-400 air-defense (anti-missile) system, which (being far better than any such that the U.S.produces) the U.S. Government was determined that Turkey must allow the U.S. to reverse-engineer so as to become able to copy it for its own and allies’ use; so, in February 2023, the US Senate NATO Observer Group co-chairs, Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), presented a bipartisan letter to President Joe Biden requesting that “F-16 fighter jet sales to Türkiye should not begin until the NATO protocols [for Finland and Sweden] are ratified.” This followed, according to a report in Defense News, multiple congressional holds of US arms sales to Turkey starting in 2018 or earlier.

The U.S. Government wanted not only the expansion of NATO but the improvement of U.S.-and-allied anti-missile defense. Turkey finally buckled on granting that NATO approval to Sweden (which then allowed Finland also in). But still the S-400 issue was not resolved. And, for Israel, what allowing the U.S. to increase its cooperation with Turkey would do is to decrease America’s cooperation with Israel.

Turkey has made enormous concessions to the U.S. in order to become a closer ally. Back on 24 August 2024, the Turkic World news site headlined “Cumhuriyet learns about Türkiye’s proposal to ‘Put in Crates’ S-400s for F-35” and reported that Turkey was even willing to avoid using the S-400s that it had bought. “Türkiye suggested to the American side that it would not activate the S-400 air defense systems previously purchased from Russia: ‘Let’s put them in boxes, and you check them.’ The publication writes that the systems, purchased from Russia for $2.5 billion, are still stored in warehouses in Türkiye.” The U.S. still wants Turkey to allow America to reverse-engineer them.

Right now, Turkey has paid Russia for the S-400s but never used them. Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, “Six Turkish-owned F-35s remain in storage in the United States, and the $1.7 billion paid for the F-35s apparently is still in U.S. hands.61” So, Turkey still has paid for the Russia’s S-400s and hasn’t been allowed by the U.S. to install them, and Turkey still has paid $1.7 billion for fighter jets that it had purchased from the U.S. but that it still isn’t being allowed by the U.S. to use. Five years back, on 28 October 2021, Turkey’s Daily Sabah headlined “Turkey to US: Deliver F-35 fighters or return money paid for them”, and the amount then due from the U.S. was $1.4 billion, and now it is $1.7 billion, and still unpaid. On 30 September 2025, the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute headlined “Scoop: Turkey to Declare S-400 ‘Inoperable’ to Gain F-35 Stealth Fighter Deal”, and opened: “The Trump Administration is exploring a workaround to restore Turkey’s access to F-35s by deeming Ankara’s Russian S-400 “inoperable” after removing a component — an attempt to skirt CAATSA sanctions that Congress must review. Critics warn the reversible fix sets a dangerous precedent: Iran or North Korea could cite it to ‘disable’ systems temporarily while preserving rapid reactivation.” On 6 July 2026, the New York Times headlined “Trump Expected to Tell Turkey He Is Ready to Restore Access to F-35 Jets: The president, who is headed to a NATO summit in Ankara this week, had imposed the ban himself amid concerns that giving Turkey the jets could allow Russia to learn about their stealth technology.” The next day, July 7th, CNN headlined “Exclusive: Netanyahu tells CNN he opposes US sale of F-35 jets to Turkey”. Israel’s Haaretz headlined “Trump Says U.S. ‘Considering’ to Sell F-35 Planes to Turkey as Erdogan Says ‘Five Jets Promised’”. Then, on July 8th, India’s FirstPost bannered on youtube, “Israel, Greece Vehemently Oppose Trump’s F-35 Sale to Turkey” and with all the public statements showing there the shocking new global alignment, has provided the fullest report yet on this, in just 7 minutes, tying a lot of information together, connecting all the dots to show the emerging picture, entirely accurately, and perfectly structured:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWvIPl_CF4M

“Israel, Greece Vehemently Oppose Trump’s F-35 Sale to Turkey”