WASHINGTON 

Israel’s efforts to extend its qualitative military edge (QME) to Türkiye are “absolutely absurd” and risk undermining NATO’s edge, a former State Department official said, warning that the legal framework for QME has never applied to a NATO member.

“Turkey is a NATO member, and actually, it's in the context of NATO that the term qualitative military edge was first used by the US with respect to NATO's positions vis-a-vis Russia. The purpose of NATO is to provide the US and its allies with a qualitative military edge over Russia,” Josh Paul told Anadolu in an interview.

“The notion that Israel's qualitative military edge would trump America's military edge, and NATO's qualitative military edge, is just absolutely absurd, and should be deeply concerning, I think, to all NATO members,” he added.

Paul, co-founder of advocacy group A New Policy, spent more than 11 years working as a director at the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which oversees US security assistance and arms transfers.

He resigned in October 2023 to protest the Biden administration’s decision to rush arms shipments to Israel amid its genocidal war on Gaza, which has since killed more than 71,000 people and injured over 171,000 as a fragile ceasefire continues despite violations.

QME law and Türkiye

Under US law on arms transfers, QME guarantees Israel the ability to defeat any country in the Middle East, which Paul explained applies only to countries under the State Department’s Near East (NEA) Bureau—essentially Arab nations plus Iran—and has never been applied to a NATO member such as Türkiye.

Israel has been lobbying to prevent the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Türkiye.

In the past year, some pro-Israel Congress members unsuccessfully tried to expand QME to Türkiye or place the country under the Near East Bureau.

Paul said these efforts are about deepening Israel’s influence with the US, rather than being “truly about US national interest.”

“As it currently stands in law, and again, in my experience, in the State Department, there is absolutely no reason to apply QME to Turkey,” he added.

​​Israel’s qualitative military edge and regional impact

Israel has also publicly opposed selling F-35 stealth fighters to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to preserve its regional air superiority.

Paul explained that any US arms transfer to a country in the Middle East requires an assessment of whether it could undermine Israel’s QME, which must then be reported to Congress.

“The very approach of QME can drive arms races in the region,” he said, adding it pushes Arab countries toward France, or even to US rivals like China, or Russia and “weakens America's influence in the region.”

‘Israel has lost the American public’

Paul said Israel’s war on Gaza has fundamentally reshaped how Americans view the US-Israel relationship, as Washington continues to face criticism for providing military assistance despite credible reports of civilian targeting and breaches of US and international law, including the obstruction of aid.

“Israel has lost the American public for a generation,” he said. “There has been an absolute transformation in the way Americans of all backgrounds, of all politics, of all ages think about the US relationship with Israel, and indeed think about Israel itself.”

According to Paul, translating the public shift into policy will take some time.

“It can take several election cycles to really filter into government policy. It is my job now to do all I can to accelerate that change,” he said.

Reflecting on his resignation and current advocacy work, Paul said he left government after concluding that internal debate was no longer possible.

“I felt at the time that had I been able to make any impact, had I been able to shift things within the US government, I would have stayed,” he said.

Since leaving the State Department, Paul has focused on advocacy through his organization, A New Policy, engaging elected officials, members of Congress, and candidates ahead of the upcoming US midterm elections.​​​​​​​