Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has privately condoned the sale of advanced U.S. weapons to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), despite coming out against the deal publicly.

The officials said that the Israeli prime minister allowed the sales in an effort to "normalize" relations between the Zionist regime and the UAE before the news of the diplomatic breakthrough became public later last month.

After the diplomatic agreement was announced, the Trump administration pushed for an arms sale deal with the UAE that would include the purchase of F-35 stealth fighters and armed drones, according to the Times.

The U.S. deal also reportedly includes a previously-unreported shipment of EA-18G Growler jets.

Netanyahu has previously called reports of the sales “fake news” and insisted Israel would not support a deal, under those circumstances, however, Israeli officials contradicted his public statements.

The UAE agreed last month to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel in a U.S.-brokered deal, making it the third Arab country to do so.

The agreement was denounced by Palestinians as "a stab in the back", and sparked widespread condemnation.

 Many Palestinians see the deal as a betrayal, breaking a consensus that normalization with Israel is permissible only after the Palestinian question has been resolved.