US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Washington would stop providing $4 b in funding to Israel after the end of this year, following an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking to Fox News, the US president said Israel no longer required the financial support, adding that left-wing politicians and Democrats were using American financial assistance to Israel as a talking point to criticise Republicans.
“Now, as far as paying Israel, Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal that we give Israel $4b a year, and we made a deal months ago that we’re stopping,” Trump told Fox News. “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,” he said.
“They can buy whatever they want. They can buy whatever they want. So can Europe. We make the greatest weapons in the world,” the US president added on Tuesday.
“The left uses the $4 b payment that everybody knows about, well it’s no secret, as a signal of unfairness, and we can’t allow that to happen,” he said. “We were giving them 4 billion, we are, but it gets cut off at the end of the year. Why? Because they don’t need it,” he added.
The office of the Israeli prime minister did not immediately comment on the announcement. It remained unclear which exact funding stream Trump meant. A memorandum of understanding providing $3.8 billion in annual US military aid to Israel approaches its expiration date in 2028, with discussions under way regarding how American assistance to Israel will evolve beyond that date.
In a May interview with CBS, Netanyahu said he hoped to wean Israel off US military support within a decade. In June, a letter to a US congressman, the Israeli prime minister wrote that the time had come for Israel “to move from aid recipient to partner”.
Public support in the United States for Israel has fallen since the Gaza war began in 2023, particularly among Democrats. A June Quinnipiac University poll found that 48 per cent of voters and 66 per cent of Democrats believe the United States is overly supportive of Israel, up from 16 per cent and 20 per cent when the question was first asked in 2017.
Backing for Israel among Democratic voters has plummeted, candidates critical of Israel are winning Democratic primaries, and even moderate lawmakers are increasingly willing to challenge decades of US aid to Israel.
