Notice Israel refers to it as a “strategic asset”.
I found that a fascinating choice of words, and see that I wasn’t the only one.
Israel apparently sees the britches that the F-35 can wear as being much larger than many of our countrymen do.
But then again...the Israelis are known for taking a weapons platform and wringing every last ounce of capability out of it, which means by nature they don’t just take a tool and use it the way its predecessors were used. They are going to find out what it does well and plumb that to its depth, playing to its strengths, and minimizing its weaknesses.
Then introducing their own twists, customized electronics and ECM packages, customized native weapons systems, tactics to take advantage of them, etc. they improve the platform.
I tend to trust the Israelis on this kind of thing, they have a good track record. I hope we take the opportunity to learn from them.