The U.S. and Israel are in a rare tiff over a blocked jet deal with Croatia

Benjamin Netanyah.
(Image credit: JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovič says the U.S. is standing in the way of a $500 million F-16 fighter jet deal between Croatia and Israel, Axios reported Friday.

The deal, which was announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last March, would involve Israel selling Croatia 12 refurbished U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets. The U.S. never gave Israel permission to sell the jets, per Axios, and Washington began alerting Israeli officials three weeks ago that they would block the deal.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Plenkovič remains optimistic the deal will pass, so long as Israel and the U.S. come to an agreement. He says it's up to Israel to settle the dispute and move the jet deal forward.

"We are not in a particularly burdensome situation, everything that has been done on our part was correct," Plenkovič said in a statement. "I do not believe that there is a possibility that the deal will not be approved eventually." The U.S., on the other hand, wanted to score the lucrative sale to Croatia and is frustrated that Israel got in the way. Read more at Axios.

Explore More
Marianne Dodson

Marianne is The Week’s Social Media Editor. She is a native Tennessean and recent graduate of Ohio University, where she studied journalism and political science. Marianne has previously written for The Daily Beast, The Crime Report, and The Moroccan Times.