Trump Announces End to U.S. Military Aid to Israel Before Year’s End

Donald Trump announced on Election Day that the United States will terminate military aid to Israel by the end of the year, a move seemingly aimed at voters critical of U.S. backing for Israel and the war in Gaza.

Speaking in a phone interview with Fox News as voting began Tuesday morning, Trump said the United States would cut nearly $4 billion (£2.96 billion) in military assistance to Israel, stating that the country “doesn’t need it.”

“We were giving them $4 billion,” he said. “But it gets cut off at the end of the year.”

Trump indicated that the aid would be replaced by arms sales to Israel, and said the decision was driven by mounting criticism of U.S. foreign policy led by outspoken candidates such as Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

“Why should we take flak from lunatics like El-Sayed when they don’t need it?” Trump said. “It’s a bad talking point.”

During the interview, Trump claimed the abrupt aid cutoff had been proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We give them $4 billion in goods and money, and they don’t need it,” he said. “Bibi Netanyahu approached me, and we’ve discussed it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money.”

Netanyahu had previously suggested gradually phasing out U.S. military aid to Israel over the next decade, but Trump’s Tuesday announcement would sharply accelerate that timeline.

In 2025, Israel received most of the roughly $3.8 billion in Foreign Military Financing grants, which fund purchases of American military hardware such as F-35 fighter jets. An additional $500 million supported joint missile-defense programs.

Tuesday’s announcement appeared timed to influence the midterm elections, where U.S. foreign policy and support for Israel have played an outsized role in key contests, including Michigan’s Senate race between Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers. El-Sayed would become the nation’s first Muslim senator if elected.

A Quinnipiac University poll released in September found that 48% of Americans believe the U.S. is too supportive of Israel, with other recent surveys showing a historic shift away from support for Israel and Netanyahu’s government.

Anger over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has fueled a wave of progressive Democratic candidates, including El-Sayed, while Trump’s running mate JD Vance has openly accused Israel of attempting to sabotage U.S. negotiations with Iran. In a June interview with The New York Times, Vance said of Israel’s foreign policy: “You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”

In the Fox News interview, Trump spoke warmly of Netanyahu and boasted about his popularity in Israel. “If people ever got tired of me in the U.S., I’ll move to Israel and become prime minister,” he said.

Source link