Trump says US will end US$3.8b annual military aid to Israel, claims Netanyahu agreed to the move

US President Donald Trump said Israel was “fine” with him ending the assistance, which began in 2019 and was signed under his predecessor, Barack Obama, three years earlier. — AFP pic

First Published: Wednesday, 04 Nov 2026 9:11 AM MYT

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 — US President Donald Trump said yesterday that Washington is ending a 10-year security assistance accord with Israel that allowed US$3.8 billion in annual assistance to its ally until 2028.

Trump said Israel was “fine” with him ending the assistance, which began in 2019 and was signed under his predecessor, Barack Obama, three years earlier.

“We’ll help Israel if they need it,” Trump added in an interview on Fox and Friends, saying that he had agreed with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut the assistance.

“Israel’s our number one; we give them more than anybody else, and they no longer need it... If they did need it, I would say keep it going,” Trump added.

Under the deal, Israel receives financial assistance for the purchase of around US$3.8 billion in weapons a year.

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has received more than US$300 billion, adjusted for inflation, in US economic and military assistance, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, far more than any other country since 1946.

The Israeli premier has said he wanted to end Israel’s reliance on US support.

In June, Netanyahu called for his country to increase its military autonomy and reduce its reliance on Washington.

In January he told The Economist that he hoped to do so within a decade, while in May he told CBS that he wanted support to reach “zero”.

The announcement was nonetheless met with backlash from Israeli opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot, who said it showed that Netanyahu must go.

“The fact that Israel’s defense establishment is learning of a shift in our strategic relationship through the media, at the same time as the Israeli public, shows just how dangerous Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct is,” Eisenkot said in a statement.

“He can no longer be trusted and must be replaced.”

Yesterday, Trump cited attacks by leftist Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for the US Senate in Tuesday’s midterm elections after harnessing popular discontent and anti-Israel sentiment, as part of the reasoning behind the decision to end aid.

“Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an El-Sayed when they don’t need it?” he said on Fox, referring to Israel and the assistance. — AFP