Shteinitz Explains Israeli Firms Could Have Earned Billions

Even though the Pentagon approved the sale of the new F-35 state-of-the-art stealth fighter plane to Israel, the truth is, Jerusalem passed up a major money-making opportunity a number of years ago.

As the F-35 project was getting underway, the United States offered Israel a piece of the action for a $100 million buy-in, but Defense Ministry officials decided to turn down the offer, explaining they just could not afford it.

Amos Yaron, the Defense Ministry official who reached the decision six years ago explained “we just did not have that kind of money but they did permit us a smaller sum to become observers in the project.”

In the meantime, eight nations joined the project while Israel and Singapore took observer status. Two years later, Jerusalem expressed remorse and request to buy in, but America explained it was too late.

Some defense establishment officials explain today the decision was a bad one, explaining Israel was wise enough to join the F-16 program, which has already earned Israel $2 billion. Joining the F-35 project would have been rewarding and would have resulted in many jobs in the defense and military industries.

One senior defense establishment officials quoted in the Yisrael HaYom newspaper stated, “In retrospect, what’s $100 million? A joke”

MK (Likud) Dr. Yuval Shteinitz, a former chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee explained he used his connections in the Pentagon and Senate to obtain the observer status for Israel. He said Israel made a bad mistake by not joining the F-35 program. “I have no doubt if the project was presented to Israel during the tenure of Moshe Arens or David Ben-Gurion, they would not have hesitated. Israel could have earned billions.”

He explained the move would have carried political significance as well, working with Britain and Norway on the next generation weaponry despite their embargo on Israeli weaponry. Shteinitz goes on to explain that as a partner, a deal could have been arranged to prevent the sale of Israeli weapons systems to other Mideast nations.