Trump says US to end $4 billion in aid to Israel

WASHINGTON,— U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had struck an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end $4 billion in yearly US funding to Israel after this year, though Washington will continue selling weapons to the country.

Trump made the announcement as Americans voted in midterm elections that will determine whether his Republican Party keeps control of Congress.

He described the move as an effort to remove what he called a “bad talking point” that left-wing Democrats had used against Republicans over military support for Israel.

Trump gave no details on how the funding would actually end this year. The current Memorandum of Understanding, which provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual US military aid, does not expire until September 2028.

His comments suggested that support for Israel, once a dependable area of bipartisan agreement, has turned into a political burden for him with certain voters. Some analysts said the timing of the announcement looked like an Election Day strategy.

Officials have already been discussing how US assistance to Israel might change after 2028, and Netanyahu had previously said he expects the aid to decrease gradually.

Still, Trump’s remarks indicated he had settled on a major shift in the US-Israel relationship, even as the two nations remain engaged against Iran more than eight months after a joint strike on the country.

Speaking on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Trump said Israel no longer required the money and claimed some Democrats and left-wing figures were using the aid issue to attack Republicans.

Surveys indicate that American backing for Israel has slipped, largely tied to the war in Gaza.

“Now, as far as paying Israel, Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal that we give Israel $4 billion a year, and we made a deal months ago that we’re stopping,” Trump said. “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.”

Israel’s political future remains unclear following an October 27 election in which Netanyahu lost his governing majority but kept his opponents from gaining a clear route to remove him. Lengthy negotiations over forming a new government are expected to follow.

The White House and Netanyahu’s office did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

Gadi Eisenkot, who leads the opposing bloc trying to remove Netanyahu, wrote on X that Israeli citizens and security officials learning about such a change through the media shows the danger of Netanyahu’s leadership, adding that he can no longer be trusted and must be replaced.

Declining Support

Backing for Israel among Americans, especially Democrats, has dropped since Israel’s military response in Gaza following the October 2023 Hamas-led attack.

A Quinnipiac University poll from June found 48 percent of voters and 66 percent of Democrats believe the US supports Israel too much, compared with 16 percent and 20 percent when the same question was asked in 2017.

Analysts expect Democrats to retake the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s elections, while control of the Senate remains unclear.

Several candidates critical of Israel won Democratic primary races over the past year, and even moderate lawmakers have grown more willing to question long-standing US support.

In Michigan, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim elected to the US Senate, has opposed unconditional military aid to Israel.

Trump named El-Sayed directly, saying the left used US funding as a “signal of unfairness” and that he wanted to eliminate an easy target for criticism.

“Because they don’t need it, and because why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an El-Sayed when they don’t need it?” Trump said. “It’s a bad talking point.”

Some supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement have also criticized Israel, claiming it misled Trump, who ran on avoiding foreign conflicts, into believing Iran could be easily defeated.

Polls show most Americans oppose the war, which has pushed up gas prices and lowered Trump’s approval ratings.

Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies questioned the timing, asking why Trump made the announcement on Election Day and amid talk of a possible joint US-Israeli strike on Iran.

Progressive Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California wrote on X that “zero aid Israel” would become part of his party’s platform if Democrats win control of Congress. Republican Representative Don Bacon told CNN his main concern was that Israeli officials were not informed beforehand.

Congress approved a law in 2020 authorizing the Israel funding, though lawmakers must pass appropriations bills annually to release the money.

Netanyahu said in an October interview with an Israeli television channel that Americans should prepare for reduced defense aid because “America has changed.”

Anticipating future cuts, the US House passed a provision this summer within the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, called Section 219, aimed at deepening military technology cooperation between the two countries.

Dozens of nongovernmental organizations have called the proposal “exceptionally dangerous” and urged Congress to drop it.

(With files from Reuters)