US mega-deal to Saudi Arabia spurs concern in Israel

Defense News: TEL AVIV – As helicopters fly over Jerusalem in preparation for hosting U.S. President Donald Trump Monday, many here are wary about his mammoth $110 billion deal with Saudi Arabia inked Saturday.

The arms deal that can eventually balloon up to $350 billion in the next decade has serious security implications for Israel, both positive and negative, experts here say.

"This is a matter that really should trouble us," Israel's Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. "We have also to make sure that those hundreds of billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia will not, by any means, erode Israel's qualitative edge, because Saudi Arabia is still a hostile country without any diplomatic relations and nobody knows what the future will be."

Read article