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Trump says US will end nearly $4 billion in yearly military aid to Israel

Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu's main challenger, says Israel's defense establishment learned of the shift through the media and Netanyahu must be replaced.

Donald Trump in 2025
Donald Trump in 2025. Photo: Daniel Torok, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
9 news outlets reported this · Little coverage from conservative outlets
Liberal5 outletsElection Day announcement that could collide with CongressCenter3 outletsTrump's announcement, its unclear mechanics and political timingConservative1 outletFox host questions yielding to Democrats on aid
Published 4 min read
Overview

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, Election Day for the US midterms, that the United States will end its annual military aid to Israel, nearly $4 billion a year. He spoke by phone on Fox News' "Fox & Friends." Trump said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed months ago that payments stop by the end of the year, and that Israel can still buy American weapons.

He also called the aid a "bad talking point" for Democrats and named Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan. The current 10-year agreement runs until 2028. Trump did not explain how the aid would end sooner.

MS NOW reports that Congress has authorized and appropriated aid through 2028. The Boston Globe says stopping it by the end of the year would be all but impossible and that Congress will have a large say. Netanyahu's office had not commented as of Tuesday evening Israel time.

Netanyahu has said before that he wants to reduce Israel's reliance on US aid. Gadi Eisenkot, his main challenger in Israel's election, said the defense establishment learned of the shift through the media and that Netanyahu "must be replaced."

Key figures
  • nearly $4 billion annual US military aid to Israel that Trump says will end — Deutsche Welle
  • $3.8 billion yearly aid under the 10-year security accord — Deutsche Welle
  • $3.3 billion yearly foreign military financing for Israel — Yahoo News
  • $500 million yearly cooperative missile defense funding — Yahoo News
  • $38 billion total aid committed for 2019 to 2028 under the Obama-era agreement — Yahoo News

Three sides of the story

Liberal5 outlets

Election Day announcement that could collide with Congress

Yahoo News opens with Trump's declaration that the US will end nearly $4 billion in annual military aid, an Election Day announcement that "could set up a standoff with Congress." It asks how the administration would halt the money and notes that more than 90 percent goes to American defense companies. The Boston Globe headlines that the US "will halt $4b in aid" as Israel weans itself from dependence, and quotes analyst David Schenker saying it won't change Republican or Democratic voters.

It also carries Yair Golan, who warns of a "severe blow to Israel's security." MS NOW calls it an "Election Day surprise." Citing two people familiar with the matter, it says Israeli officials were caught off guard by the timing, though the two countries had already discussed phasing out direct aid.

Semafor writes that the plan sets Trump on a "collision course with Israel's supporters in Congress." MS NOW quotes Eisenkot saying Netanyahu "can no longer be trusted." Yahoo adds Marjorie Taylor Greene's comment on the polling.

Center3 outlets

Trump's announcement, its unclear mechanics and political timing

Deutsche Welle reports Trump's statement that the US will end almost $4 billion in yearly aid to Israel. It quotes Trump telling Fox that he and Netanyahu "made a deal months ago" and that Israel no longer needs the money. DW notes that Trump did not elaborate on how the aid would stop by year's end, while the agreement is set to run until September 2028.

It adds background on Netanyahu's earlier call to "break free from dependency" and on polls, including a Quinnipiac survey in June in which 48% of all voters said the US is too supportive of Israel. It quotes Eisenkot and Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who called the timing "curious." It also reports Trump's remarks on a US strike on Iran.

The Hill's report centers on former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene saying the announcement shows "how bad the polling is." A Journal opinion piece titled "The End of U.S. Aid to Israel?" says the two leaders talked about a phase-out spanning years rather than months.

Conservative1 outlet

Fox host questions yielding to Democrats on aid

Breitbart News reports on Fox News host Brian Kilmeade's reaction to Trump's announcement, under the headline that halting aid is "giving in to Democrats." On the simulcast of "Varney & Co." and his own radio show, Kilmeade said he had "no idea why you would give in to Democrats" who want to cut off aid to Israel, which he called America's number one ally in the region. He noted that Israel's is growing and called its economy a "miracle story" despite the war.

He then imagined Netanyahu saying publicly that Israel does not really need the $4 billion and would rather buy weapons from America or make them itself. Kilmeade recalled that Netanyahu said about a year ago Israel would be on its own if Democrats take power, so Netanyahu "knew this was coming." He said he did not know whether Netanyahu would stay prime minister, and that the announcement "really caught me by surprise."

All sources: 9 articles from 9 outlets

Liberal (5)

Center (3)

Conservative (1)

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