https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/authors/shoshana-bryen/
The cornerstone of America’s security commitment to Israel, since the administration of Lyndon Johnson, has been an assurance that the United States would help Israel uphold its Qualitative Military Edge (QME). This is “Israel’s ability to counter and defeat credible military threats from any individual state, coalition of states, or non-state actor, while sustaining minimal damages or casualties.” This commitment and the language were written into law in 2008 and every security assistance request from the Israeli Government is evaluated in light of America’s promise.
So, what happens when the United States agrees to sell the F-35 jet fighter – the most sophisticated plane in our arsenal – to the United Arab Emirates after UAE establishes relations with Israel? Is UAE permanently out of the group of “individual states or coalition of states” that QME refers to? Can other states get out?
Following the announcement, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said that Israel has no power to prevent U.S. sales of advanced weaponry to the Gulf states. Steinitz, in an interview, explained that if countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia “want it and are willing to pay, no doubt that sooner or later they’ll get” the aircraft and other weapons systems.