Trump says US will end Israel’s annual military aid by year-end

US President Donald Trump says Washington will end its annual military assistance to Israel by the end of this year, bringing forward the conclusion of a security agreement that currently runs until September 2028. The package is worth about $3.8 billion a year. Trump announced the decision in an interview with Fox News as Americans voted in midterm elections.

He said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed months earlier to stop the payments, and claimed Israel was comfortable with the change. The president said the United States would still help Israel if necessary and would continue selling it American weapons. He argued that Israel no longer needed the annual assistance, while describing the country as America’s foremost recipient of support.

The reports differ slightly on how Trump presented the decision. DW and India Today say he described an agreement with Netanyahu to stop the funding by the end of 2026. Euronews reports that Trump said Netanyahu had raised the idea and that the two leaders had discussed it for several years.

None of the reports provides an explanation for how the aid would be halted before the current arrangement expires. The 10-year, $38 billion memorandum of understanding was signed in 2016 under President Barack Obama and began in 2019. India Today also notes that Congress authorised military assistance in 2020, although annual appropriations are still needed to release the money.

Trump linked the announcement directly to domestic politics. He referred to Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan who has criticised unconditional US assistance to Israel, and said ending the payments would remove a talking point used by left-wing Democrats. The decision comes amid declining public support for Washington’s backing of Israel, particularly during the war in Gaza after the Hamas-led attack of October 2023.

A Quinnipiac University poll cited by DW and India Today found that 48% of US voters and 66% of Democrats believed the United States was too supportive of Israel in June. The comparable figures in 2017 were 16% and 20%. The announcement caused an immediate political reaction in Israel.

Gadi Eisenkot, an opponent of Netanyahu who is seeking to build a coalition against him, said it was dangerous that Israel’s defence establishment and the public had learned of the change through the media. He called for Netanyahu to be replaced. Netanyahu has previously said Israel should reduce its reliance on American support.

In remarks cited by the reports, he said Israel needed to develop an independent arms network and acknowledged that Washington’s position had changed. Netanyahu’s office had not immediately commented, according to Euronews. Trump made the announcement as tensions with Iran were also rising.

He separately said US forces had struck an Iranian anti-aircraft facility, while Euronews reported that a US official described defensive strikes on Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz. The timing prompted Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies to question why the aid decision was announced on Election Day amid speculation about a possible further US-Israeli strike on Iran.