President Donald Trump on Monday brushed aside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s objections to selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, saying the United States alone will decide what weapons it exports.  Speaking aboard Air Force One ahead of Netanyahu’s White House visit, Trump praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while making clear that foreign leaders would not dictate U.S. arms sales. “Nobody tells me what we should be selling,” Trump said. “Turkey has been a tremendous ally for me.” “Prime Minister Netanyahu opposes sending the F-35s to Turkey…”@POTUS: “Nobody tells me what we should be selling or not. Turkey has been a tremendous ally.” pic.twitter.com/8gSzavJ6Ce — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 27, 2026 Trump’s remarks came just weeks after Netanyahu urged Washington not to approve a sale, arguing Turkey’s increasingly hostile posture toward Israel makes transferring the stealth fighters too risky. “I don’t think they should be given F-35s or engines for their fighter jets,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News.  In the same interview, Netanyahu described Turkey as “a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood” and warned that it posed a growing regional threat to both Israel and the United States. Trump, however, dismissed the notion that Israel’s concerns should determine American policy. “Turkey’s not a big fan of Israel. You know that, right? They’re not a big fan of Bibi,” Trump said. “But they’ve been great for me.” He went on to praise Turkey’s military capabilities. “Very powerful country, by the way. Tremendous military. Very big military. Very powerful military. Has a lot of great equipment.” The exchange highlighted one of the few areas where Trump has publicly broken with Netanyahu, continuing to pursue closer ties with Turkey despite Israeli objections. The proposed sale remains complicated, and certainly not final. Trump indicated during a July meeting with Erdogan that he favored moving forward, but the State Department recently informed Congress that Turkey still does not meet the legal requirements necessary to rejoin the F-35 program. Turkey was removed from the multinational F-35 program in 2020 after purchasing Russia’s S-400 air defense system, triggering sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The State Department told Congress that American policy “remains unchanged” and that Turkey must resolve the S-400 issue before any sale can proceed. The F-35 is widely regarded as the world’s most advanced operational fighter jet, and Israel is currently the only country in the Middle East to operate the aircraft. Israeli leaders have long sought to preserve that military edge by opposing sales of the jets to neighboring countries.