The Prime Minister's office on Friday responded to allegations that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu granted his consent to the sale of F-35 fighter jets by the Americans to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In a statement, the office said: "Repeating a false allegation against Prime Minister Netanyahu does not make it true."

"At no point in the talks with the United States leading to the historic breakthrough with the United Arab Emirates on August 13, did the Prime Minister give Israel's consent to the sale of advanced weapons to the Emirates."

On Thursday, The New York Timesreported that "officials familiar with the negotiations" had said that Netanyahu privately agreed to the Trump administration's plan to sell advanced weapons to the United Arab Emirates.

According to the report, Netanyahu chose not to try to block the deal, as part of a wider effort to secure a diplomatic breakthrough normalizing relations between Israel and the Emirates.

Previously, Netanyahu had said that the sale of arms was not part of the Israel-UAE agreement, stressing Israel's need to maintain its "qualitative edge" over other countries in the Middle East.