President Donald Trump said on Tuesday morning that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed months ago to halt roughly $4 billion in annual American assistance to Israel by the end of 2026, delivering the announcement in a telephone interview with Fox & Friends just as Americans headed to the polls for the midterm elections that will decide control of the House and Senate.
Under the arrangement Trump described, Israel would no longer receive the yearly funding package but could keep purchasing American weapons and would still get additional help if it ever needed it. "We won't be paying Israel anymore," he said, adding that the two sides had agreed "by the end of this year we won't be paying Israel."
The exchange began with a question about rising antisemitism in the United States and weakening support for Israel among younger voters, with a host specifically mentioning Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan who has sharply criticized US military assistance to Israel and made it part of his campaign. Trump initially stressed the strength of the partnership with Israel before blaming immigration policies under former president Barack Obama for spreading antisemitism, a connection for which he offered no evidence.
The Fox hosts pressed him repeatedly on what would actually be cut: cash, military financing, or weapons deliveries. Trump's answer suggested he meant the total value of assistance without distinguishing between components. "I'm giving four in any way you want to define it," he said. "You can consider it barter. You can consider military aid or cash." He confirmed the timeline when asked again, saying the money "gets cut off at the end of the year."
Trump insisted the initiative came from Netanyahu himself. "But Bibi Netanyahu, we reached an agreement on that. And can I be honest with you? He brought it up. He brought it up," the president said, quoting the prime minister as telling him, "I think it would be appropriate if we do not receive aid." Trump added that they had "been talking about it for a couple of years because it's a lot of money."
The president also embraced the political logic of the move, saying it would strip Democrats of a potent argument against Republicans, particularly in Michigan's closely watched Senate race between El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers. "And because why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an El-Sayed when they don't need it?" he asked, calling the annual payment "the best talking point that these lunatics have on the left." He argued Israel had grown prosperous enough to forgo the aid, saying, "If they did need it, I would say keep it going," and later claimed a 99% approval rating in Israel.
Asked directly whether Israel could still buy American weapons, Trump answered without hesitation: "Oh yeah, they can buy whatever they want. They can buy whatever they want. So can Europe." He praised the US defense industry, saying companies including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon were expanding production of Tomahawk missiles, Patriot systems, THAAD interceptors, and other equipment at his administration's urging, framing the change as an end to the funding package rather than to defense cooperation.
In the same interview, Trump said US forces had carried out a limited strike the previous night against an Iranian air-defense facility that Iran had spent about two months building. "We took some out last night. Just a minor attack. It wasn't war," he said, while warning that Washington could expand military operations after Election Day if necessary.
The announcement raises major questions because the current framework for US military assistance to Israel rests on a 10-year memorandum of understanding signed in 2016 under the Obama administration, covering fiscal years 2019 through 2028 with $38 billion in military aid: $3.3 billion annually in Foreign Military Financing plus $500 million for cooperative missile-defense programs, the $3.8 billion total Trump rounded to $4 billion. The memorandum is not a legally binding treaty, annual funding depends on congressional appropriations, and no implementation plan was presented during the interview.
Still, the idea has some precedent. In January, Netanyahu told The Economist he wanted to phase out US military assistance over a decade, and in a May interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes he argued that Israel had matured economically and technologically and should shift from an aid-based relationship toward a partnership.
