Lockheed F-104C Starfighter - 119 Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1967
The end of the Algerian war in 1962 saw General de Gaulle begin to mend France’s relationship with the Arab world and this put it's previously strong relationship with Israel under increasing strain. For a short while, France tried to balance it's relationships with the Arabs and the Israelis but during the Summer of 1963 things took a turn for the worse culminating in an unexpected and immediate arms embargo on Israel announced on September 1st, 1963. Whilst not known at the time, it was later discovered that this was due to the discovery of a major Mossad intelligence operation being conducted at the heart of the French government.
With barely one-half of it's 70 Dassault Mirage IIICJ's having been delivered the Israeli Air Force began urgent talks with several fighter manufacturers expressing strong interest in the BAC Lightning and the Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger before a surprise political intervention was made in early November 1963 by President John F. Kennedy which saw the donation of 36 F-104C's all transferred from USAF stocks. Entering service in March 1964, the F-104C's equipped two squadrons of the Israeli Air Force seeing action in the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur war before being retired in 1975.