Trump Says US Is Cutting Off Aid To Israel At Year’s End Because ‘they Don’t Need It’

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States is cutting off $4 billion in aid to Israel at the end of the year because “they don’t need it.”

Trump, speaking to Fox News on the morning of Election Day, suggested that US aid to Israel has become a powerful political talking point for Democrats and questioned why Republicans should “suffer the slings” from candidates like Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed when Israel isn’t in need of assistance.

“It’s a bad talking point because when you say, ‘Why don’t we give everybody $4 billion?’ Israel’s our number one; we give them more than anybody else, and they no longer need it,” he said.

The US provides Israel $3.8 billion of military aid a year under a 10-year memorandum of understanding that began in 2018. It is set to expire in 2028. Trump appears to be suggesting he would terminate it at the end of this year. Israel is allowed to use that aid to purchase US weapons, so the money ultimately goes to American arms manufacturers.

Trump said that if Israel needed the money, he would keep the aid going but added that he “reached an agreement” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. CNN has reached out to Netanyahu’s office and the White House for additional details.

The announcement — and Trump’s explicitly tying it to US politics — speaks to how polarizing US support for Israel has become for both Democrats and Republicans. However, former US officials expressed skepticism that the news would make a difference for voters at the ballot box on Tuesday. They also questioned whether the administration would actually follow through with the military aid cut, particularly if the US resumes military operations against Iran.

Still, the sudden news that Trump plans to end aid to Israel appears to be a major about-face, removing one of the major pillars of US military support for Israel.

Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for several US administrations, said that “the Israel issue has become a hugely polarizing issue in the Republican Party.”

“You have MAGA outliers like Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and others, and the Vice President himself, who probably does represent a significant constituency of those who don’t see the value in in this sort of close relationship with Israel,” he said.

The announcement also comes one week after Israel’s election during which the US president offered his full-throated endorsement of Netanyahu. Trump called Netanyahu “the kind of partner that the United States of American is demanding of Israel, a country for which it has done so much.” Vice President JD Vance did not echo that endorsement.

Miller called the timing of the announcement “awkward,” given Netanyahu is attempting to form a coalition to remain in power.

“In the middle of coalition negotiations, here you have the president of the United States announcing unilaterally that a major element of the US-Israel relationship is going to be zeroed out,” he told CNN.

Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s main political rival, who is also trying to agree a coalition deal to take over as prime minister, reacted strongly to the news.

“The special relationship with the U.S. is a central component of Israel’s national security. The fact that the defense establishment is learning, together with the citizens of Israel, about a change in the fabric of the strategic relationship through the media, shows just how much Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct is a real danger. He can no longer be trusted and must be replaced,” Eisenkot said in a post on X.

The last reported call between Trump and Netanyahu was on Saturday. It’s unclear if they have spoken since then.

Netanyahu has spoken openly about the need to end US military aid to Israel, but never on such a short timeline. In May, the US and Israel began formal talks on a new agreement to replace the memorandum of understanding, though it’s not clear if there is any framework in place.

Just days before last week’s election, Netanyahu told an Israeli news channel that the end of US aid was coming. “If you think we’re going to continue receiving what I secured twice, tens of billions of dollars in American aid for the defense budget, get used to the fact that we won’t,” he said.

Pressed on Fox whether he was cutting of $4 billion in military aid or $4 billion as a check, Trump said, “Any way you want to define it.”

“You can consider it barter. You can consider military aid or cash. What we give them — $4 billion of things and money — and they don’t need it. And I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money,” Trump said.

He said Israel “can buy whatever they want.”

Under Democrat and Republican administrations, the US has provided significant military support to Israel. That has continued in Trump’s second term, including as recently as September, when the administration authorized a $2.8 billion sale of heavy bombs to Israel.

Miller noted that although Israel can militarily defend itself without US assistance, he doubted the US will “turn off the spigot now” with the threat of renewed war with Iran.

The head of Israel’s left-wing Democrats party lambasted Netanyahu after Trump’s announcement, calling it a “huge failure.” Yair Golan, a retired deputy chief of staff in Israel’s military, said in a statement on X, “A responsible prime minister would have fought to increase America aid, not eliminate it. Netanyahu is deepening the security and economic crisis and endangering Israel’s future.”

Netanyahu biographer and journalist Anshel Pfeffer said Trump’s sudden declaration that US aid to Israel would abruptly stop at the end of the year was a personal failure for Israel’s longest-serving leader and for Ron Dermer, a member of Netanyahu’s inner circle who managed the relationship with the Trump administration. “Netanyahu and Dermer, who both claim to be the biggest experts in American politics, have together overseen the most dramatic decline in Israel-US relations,” he said on X.

SOURCE: CNN