Israel called off a $500 million sale of 12 F-16s jets to Croatia after months of delay, citing “unforeseen problems, according to an announcement by Israel’s Defense Ministry on January 10th.
Croatia was preparing to buy the used F-16 Barak fighter jets from Israel to replace its aging fleet of Soviet-designed MiG-21s, which were originally commissioned in 1959.
“The Ministry of Defense attaches great importance to the deepening of cooperation between Israel and Croatia, and initiated the project of the F-16, which includes Israeli know-how and technology, which was conducted professionally in the framework of the GTG deal between the two countries,” said director-general of the Defense Ministry Udi Adam while on a visit to Zagreb.
“Croatia has acted professionally and judiciously all along the way. Unfortunately, we have not been able to realize the deal because of problems that could not have been expected and are not under the control of the countries,” he added.
“Israel failed to overcome the opposition of the United States to the sale of 12 planes to Croatia, and the $500 million deal will apparently be canceled,” the Croatian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
According to reports, Washington played a big part in calling off the deal. The fighter jets were originally bought from the US and have been upgraded with Israeli technology.
Washington reportedly insisted that they be returned to the form in which they were sold to Israel – without the advanced electronic systems – before being sold to Croatia.
“The sophisticated electronic and radar systems had been a crucial factor in Croatia’s decision to buy the planes from Israel, rather than straight from the US, which was reportedly furious that Jerusalem would unfairly profit from the deal,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
The deal was initially signed in March 2018, and Croatia reportedly gave a deadline until January 11th, 2019 to clear out any issues with Washington on Israel’s side and finalize it.
Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly eager to fulfill the deal and even raised the question with in his meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brazil. He was allegedly unable to Pompeo’s mind on the matter.
In early December, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) cited the US Embassy in Zagreb as saying that the US had been actively working with Israel and Croatia on the details over the past year.
“We have been working with Israel for over a year on the details of the proposed F-16 transfer. Over the course of our discussions, we have been consistent and clear about the technical conditions under which we could approve the transfer,” the embassy was quoted by BIRN as saying, adding that “the United States remains firmly committed to supporting Croatia’s desire to modernize and upgrade its air force by purchasing aircraft that are interoperable with its NATO allies.”
The Croatian Defense Ministry said it had finally opted to buy 12 F-16 jets from Israel in March, mainly due to the upgrades they had. The first jets are expected to be delivered by the end of 2020 but the contract for their delivery has not been signed yet.
“Croatia insists that what was listed in Israel’s bid regarding the F-16 C/D Block 30 Barak fighter jets be respected and the sale of any other version of the jet is impossible,” the Defense Ministry said.
The Zi0Nazi regime will screw the US some other way (they have a lot f experience with that) to get their $500 million some other way. Money is their religion & culture.
Greed is the root of all evil, I think.
Or not accepting the truth that you are greedy like anyone else
I think it depends on how one defines greed. Greed, to me, would be getting money at the expense or lives of everyone else. But hey, I guess we all have our definitions.
You know that power corrupts… so you just don’t have the power. Or you would be Jesus instead.
Not sure what you’re getting at, but whatever, I guess.
Yeah sure
No, I’m serious.
I know.
OK.
Silly Croatia, you think you can buy some US fighter jets on the cheap? No my friend, you’re going to buy 12 F-35’s that don’t work for $1.5 Billion and you’re going to like it.
Croatia doesn’t have the money for 6 new F-16 let alone 12 new F-35. They will most probably buy Sweedish Gripen because cheaper than F-16
You wish… Croatia’s lack of military infrastructure could break one of those expensive toys and that would be very bad for future sells
but since israel haven’t paid a single penny for them the proceeds from the sale should rightfully go to the most moronic states of A and that is obviously not quite to the liking of the israelis! so what’s the next step – negotiate a split on how to divide the proceeds. and gripen won’t ever be on the table since the moronic states of A will never allow a third party into a strategic deal like the one with Croatia appears to be!
Isn’t this the definition of Genocide :
Their spraying ruins all the plants in the vicinity, and leaves nothing for us to harvest along the border. It also poisons people [and] makes them sick.
Human rights groups have called on Israel to stop spraying herbicides along the Gaza border – a practice that is blamed for destroying Palestinian crops and causing health problems. RT spoke with a farmer affected by the policy.
Dubbed “farm warfare” by critics, Israeli authorities insist that they only spray Israeli crops with herbicides, but Palestinian farmers dispute this claim. Others have suggested that winds carry the dangerous chemicals, including glyphosate (which has been banned in many countries due to fears that it causes cancer), across the Gaza border into Palestinian territory. The latest case of “farm warfare” reportedly took place in December.
https://www.rt.com/news/448578-herbicide-israel-farm-palestine/
gaza is nothing but a concentration camp a la theresienstadt, without the quick fix extermination facilities of hitler but designed to carry out the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people, the palestinians, without it being too obvious. can you believe it, that a genocide of an entire people takes place right before our eyes and not one shi..tty and spineless politician in the meek and cowardly eu dare to express a view on the murders carried out by israel – it truly boggles the mind!
discontinue israel post haste or now! prohibit cash transfers to israel as being a terrorist state.
This deal was an epic money laundering scheme wrapped in international corruption sprinkled with a hefty dose of US Military Industrial Complex Zionist racket. 12 F-16, 30+years old and heavily overused, worth 135 M USD (according to official US Congress assessment) sold to Croatia for 500 mil + undisclosed amount of money for additional equipment and ordnance equals approx 365 mils worth of kickbacks to be divided between Prince of Corrupt Weapons Sales – Bibi Netanyahu and famously corrupt (and not too bright) Croatian government ministers. Only somebody forget to include MIC in the game and these mobsters demand their cut. Especially since Lockheed built a brand new factory in North Carolina to do (mandatory!) upgrades and overhauls of ancient F16 flown by NATO vassals all over the globe. US Congress likes Israel, but it loves money. If you don’t share the spoils of highway robbery of your tax payers, you get blocked. Money trumps even Israel it seems…
$500 million for 12 used F-16’s is a blatant rip-off, that amounts to about $41.6 million per aircraft. For example in 2002 New Zealand was was going to buy 28 (basically brand-new) F-16’s from a failed US-Pakistani sale for just $105 million, or $3.75 million per aircraft.
Granted you have to take inflation and other upgrades since then into account, but even so this Israeli deal is a total rip-off. Probably a blessing in disguise for the Croatians, they can do much better than some used F-16’s anyway. Why not buy some Saab Gripen E/F’s instead? Or stop being an EU/US puppet and buy some MiG-35’s.