President Trump dropped the news on Election Day morning. On Fox & Friends, he said the roughly four billion dollars a year the United States has been sending Israel gets cut off at the end of the year.
“We were giving them $4 billion – we are – but it gets cut off at the end of the year,” Trump told the hosts. He described the package as military aid, cash, or “barter.” Then he added the part that matters. He and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already agreed to it months earlier. Netanyahu brought it up.
“They don’t need it,” Trump said. “Israel is a very thriving country.”
The current deal is the 2016 memorandum of understanding that runs through fiscal 2028. It provides about $3.8 billion a year, mostly Foreign Military Financing plus $500 million for joint missile defense work like Iron Dome, Arrow, and David’s Sling. Nearly all of that money is spent buying American weapons. Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. aid since 1948. Adjusted for inflation, the total exceeds $300 billion.
Netanyahu has been saying for months he wants to taper the aid down to zero over the next decade. He told The Economist and CBS that Israel has come of age, built its own capabilities, and should stop depending on foreign grants. Trump simply accelerated the timeline. The two leaders decided the annual checks stop after 2026.
Israel can still buy whatever it wants from the United States. Trump also said America will still help if Israel actually needs it. The difference is the end of the automatic transfer.