Netanyahu Alerts Trump to Turkish Calls for Sanctions on Israel Ahead of NATO Summit

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked President Trump during a Friday phone call to refrain from selling weapons systems that would help Turkey modernize its air force, according to Israeli and U.S. officials. Netanyahu also complained to Trump about Turkish officials' escalating anti-Israel rhetoric.

The officials said the Israeli leader wanted the U.S. president to pass along a message urging restraint.

Trump is traveling on Monday to meet Turkish officials and participate in the NATO leaders summit in Ankara. On the agenda is a $700 million deal for new engines for Turkey's fighter jets and the possibility of NATO's second largest military re-entering the F-35 program.

Turkey was expelled from the F-35 program in 2019 after it purchased Russia's S-400 air defense system, which U.S. officials said could compromise the advanced fighter jet. Vice President Vance said last week that the Pentagon is conducting a review to determine how the U.S. could sell F-35s to Turkey despite its possession of the Russian-made missile defense system.

"There are certain things that we have to certify have happened in order to comply with American law. The president has asked us to do that," Vance told reporters in the Oval Office.

Israel-Turkey tensions have soared over the last two years amid the wars in Gaza and Iran. For Netanyahu, the potential arms sales are inseparable from the Turkish government's increasingly hostile posture toward Israel. Last week, Turkish officials called Zionism "a genocidal ideology" and suggested it posed a threat to Turkey's survival.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan escalated the attack in a Turkish TV interview, calling the Israeli government "a burden that humanity can no longer bear" and "a problem for the entire world," while urging international sanctions on Israel.