US President Donald Trump has announced that his administration will stop providing military aid to Israel by the end of 2026, saying the country no longer needs the financial support.
Trump made the announcement on Tuesday during an interview with Fox News as voting began in the US midterm elections.
He said the US would withdraw nearly $4 billion in annual military assistance to Israel, adding that the decision would take effect at the end of the year.
“We were giving them $4bn. But it gets cut off at the end of the year,” he said.
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He referred to Michigan Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who has openly criticised US military assistance to Israel, saying the country should not continue facing political attacks over money Israel does not need.
“Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like El-Sayed when they don’t need it?” Trump said. “It’s a bad talking point.”
The US president also claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed ending the financial arrangement with him for several years.
“We give them $4bn of things and money, and they don’t need it,” he said. “And I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money.”
Netanyahu had earlier proposed gradually reducing Israel’s dependence on American military assistance over the next 10 years. However, Trump’s announcement would bring the process forward significantly.
The announcement reportedly caught Israeli officials off guard, while opposition figures blamed Netanyahu for weakening the longstanding relationship between the two countries.
Gadi Eisenkot, a political rival seeking to replace Netanyahu as prime minister, said the fact that Israeli security officials and citizens learnt about the decision through the media showed how poorly the government had handled the country’s relationship with Washington.
He described Netanyahu’s actions as a serious threat to Israel’s strategic interests and called for his replacement.
Yair Golan, leader of the opposition Democrats party, also criticised the prime minister, saying he should have worked to secure more American military assistance rather than allow it to end.
“A responsible prime minister would have fought to increase American aid, not dismantle it,” Golan wrote.
He added that Netanyahu was worsening Israel’s security and economic challenges and putting its future at risk.
Israel received about $3.8bn in US foreign military financing grants in 2025, which it used to purchase American military equipment, including F-35 fighter jets.
An additional $500m was provided for joint missile defence programmes.
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