Trump Says US Will Halt $4 Billion in Annual Military Aid to Israel After This Year
On Election Day, the president said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to end yearly US military aid, though arms sales would continue.
President Donald Trump said on Election Day that the United States will stop giving Israel roughly $4 billion a year in military aid once this year ends, a striking shift in one of Washington’s longest-standing foreign policy commitments.
The announcement
Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed that the annual aid would end at the close of 2026, according to the Associated Press and Reuters. He said Israel would still be able to buy American weapons.
Trump framed the move partly in political terms, describing the aid as a talking point for Democrats, Fox News and Reuters reported.
What the current deal says
The existing agreement between the two countries, a memorandum of understanding signed under a previous administration, provides about $3.8 billion a year and runs through 2028, the AP noted. Congress has already approved funding through September 2027.
That means the timing and mechanics of any halt are not straightforward. Aid levels are set in appropriations bills passed by Congress, not by the president alone, and lawmakers from both parties have historically supported the program.
A shift in tone
Scripps News described the remarks as a reversal from positions Trump had taken earlier. The Jerusalem Post reported Trump’s statement that Netanyahu had agreed to the change, though the Israeli government’s detailed response was not immediately clear in initial coverage.
Why it matters now
The announcement came as voters were heading to the polls and as the US remains locked in a tense standoff with Iran, Israel’s main regional adversary. Israel and the United States launched joint strikes on Iran in February, and the conflict has since moved through a ceasefire, a stalled agreement and renewed clashes at sea.
What to watch
With Democrats set to control both chambers of Congress in January, the question of Israel aid will run through the appropriations process. Lawmakers will have to decide whether to write the president’s plan into spending bills, ignore it, or attach new conditions.
Defense analysts will also be watching how Israel adjusts its procurement if grants are replaced by purchases. For now, the announcement is a stated intention rather than a signed change in law.
Developing: some details in this report are preliminary or unconfirmed and are identified as such in the text.
Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, Fox News.
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