Trump Announces End to Billions in US Aid to Israel

Trump said Israel has become successful enough that it no longer needs the assistance and can purchase its own weapons.

By United with Israel Staff

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will end its annual military aid to Israel at the close of the year, a dramatic declaration that reportedly caught senior Israeli defense officials by surprise.

“We were giving them $4 billion – we are – but it gets cut off at the end of the year,” Trump told Fox & Friends on Election Day morning.

Trump said Israel has become successful enough to purchase its own weapons without American assistance, adding that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed ending the aid for years and that Netanyahu himself had raised the idea.

“They don’t need it,” Trump said. “Israel is a very thriving country.”

The announcement, if implemented as described, would mark a major change in the decades-long US-Israel defense relationship.

Under the current 10-year memorandum of understanding signed in 2016, the United States committed $38 billion in military assistance to Israel from fiscal years 2019 through 2028, including $33 billion in foreign military financing and $5 billion for missile defense.

Much of the assistance is used by Israel to purchase American-made weapons and military equipment, making the program an important component of both Israel’s defense planning and the US defense industry.

Senior officials in Israel’s Defense Ministry and the IDF told Kan News they had not been expecting such a declaration.

“We did not expect this announcement, certainly not today,” a senior Israeli defense official said.

“There is regular dialogue with the Americans. You could say we were surprised,” the official added. “We will study the implications of the decision, which have not yet reached the professional officials.”

The announcement comes amid intense regional tensions and after years in which Israel has relied heavily on US weapons deliveries and missile-defense cooperation during conflicts with Iran and its regional proxies.

The timing of the announcement was particularly notable, coming as Americans headed to the polls in the midterm elections.

While support for Israel remains strong among Republicans, foreign military assistance has become a point of debate within parts of the party’s “America First” base, with some voters and prominent conservative voices questioning the billions of dollars Washington provides Israel each year.