[bigyabai]

This is not really addressing my overall point. What you call "lobbying" is clear exploitation, as well as the vast minority of foreign aid sent to Israel.

> it's likely Israel would have continued (at least for some time).

On a skeleton crew, maybe. The sticking point was not research, but manufacturing - Israel would have bankrupted itself buying the jet's supply chain. Hence, I think it is safe to say that the political aspect was a bluff. Israel's only option for financing the jet was a catastrophic break from their allies that they were not willing to commit to.

> There was no "threat", just preparations.

"threat" and "preparation" are not mutually exclusive adjectives.

[FunnyUsername]

How is it exploitation when both sides are benefiting? If anything the US may be benefiting more, considering that Trump is keen on continuing the arrangement while Netanyahu is not.

> Israel would have bankrupted itself

The Lavi program in particular wasn't really poised for success, but it's likely Israel would have ended up getting into the defense aerospace industry in one way or another. Even if it never productionized its own fighter jets, it could have contributed a lot more to Chinese or other programs. Israel not working with China (among others) is a big opportunity cost to Israel, and valuable to the US.

> "threat" and "preparation" are not mutually exclusive adjectives.

If Israel was making preparations simply because they were necessary for its defense against invaders, that's not a threat. If its intent was to hint at its capabilities, that could be construed as a threat, but we can only speculate about intent.