Photo: Dan Scavino / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington will stop giving Israel military aid at the end of this year, claiming he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on the move months ago. Trump put the support at about $4 billion a year and said Israel no longer needs it.
What Trump said
Trump made the remarks in a morning interview on Fox News’s Fox & Friends as Americans began voting in the midterm elections. He said the two leaders had struck the deal some time ago and that the Israeli side was comfortable with it.
We’ve already agreed that by the end of this year we won’t be paying Israel. Now we’ll help Israel if they need it.
Donald Trump, US President
Asked why, Trump replied that Israel did not need the money and called it “a very thriving country”. He described the assistance as a mix of “things and money”, including military aid, cash and what he called “barter”, and said Netanyahu had been the one to raise the idea. Israel, he suggested, can buy its own weapons.
Trump also said some Democrats and left-wing politicians had been using US funding for Israel as a talking point to attack Republicans, which put the timing of the announcement, on election day itself, in sharper focus.
Earlier than the current pact
Israel currently receives about $3.8 billion a year under a security memorandum of understanding with the US that runs until 2028. Netanyahu has earlier said aid in its current form would end when that agreement expires, so Trump’s comments point to the support stopping about two years ahead of schedule. Neither side has yet set out the timing or terms of any change to the agreement.
A shift Netanyahu has backed
The idea of weaning Israel off American grants is not new. In June, Netanyahu endorsed a non-binding proposal from Republican Representatives Marlin Stutzman and Abe Hamadeh to end direct military aid when the current pact lapses and replace it with a relationship built on defence trade, with Israel buying American weapons. Stutzman said Netanyahu told the lawmakers, “We want to stand on our own feet.” In a letter supporting the plan, Netanyahu wrote that “the time has now arrived for us to move from aid recipient to partner.”
The push has come as American public opinion of Israel has cooled. A Pew Research Center survey cited at the time found that 60 per cent of Americans held an unfavourable view of Israel, up from 53 per cent a year earlier, with the rise also visible among younger Republicans. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has also said a new agreement would end aid and be based on trade.
What happens next
Key questions remain open, including whether the cut covers all current programmes, such as missile defence funding, and how it would sit alongside the existing agreement and money already approved by Congress. Israeli media noted that the remarks come amid expectations that the next Congress could take a more critical line on Israel, which may shape how any new arrangement is negotiated.
