President Donald Trump says the United States will stop providing approximately $4 billion in annual assistance to Israel by the end of 2026, announcing the proposed change during an Election Day interview with Fox News.
Speaking by phone with Fox & Friends on Tuesday, November 3, Trump said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed ending the assistance and reached an understanding months ago. Trump argued that Israel has become economically successful and no longer needs the funding.
“We’ve already agreed that by the end of this year we won’t be paying Israel,” Trump said, while adding that Washington would still help the country if it needed assistance.
Trump also clarified that Israel would remain able to purchase American-made weapons. His comments suggested that the proposed change would affect direct assistance rather than end the broader defense relationship between the two countries. However, he did not provide a detailed explanation of which funding programs would be affected.
The announcement raises questions about the future of the existing U.S.-Israel security assistance agreement. Under a 10-year memorandum of understanding covering fiscal years 2019 through 2028, the United States committed to providing Israel with $38 billion in military assistance, equivalent to approximately $3.8 billion annually.
It remains unclear how the proposed year-end cutoff would be implemented, particularly because annual assistance is subject to congressional appropriations. Neither the White House nor Netanyahu’s office had immediately provided confirmation of the reported agreement, according to Reuters.
Trump also connected the announcement to domestic politics, specifically criticism of U.S. assistance to Israel during the Michigan Senate race. He argued that ending the funding would remove an issue being used by Democratic candidates to challenge Republican positions on foreign assistance.
The president’s announcement marks a potentially significant development in U.S.-Israel relations, but the precise scope, timeline and legal steps behind the proposed change remain to be clarified.
