File photo: US president Donald Trump with Israeli prime minister Netanyahu
US president Donald Trump on Tuesday said Washington will stop providing $4 billion in annual funding to Israel after the end of 2026, claiming the country no longer needs American financial support. The announcement appears to conflict with the existing US-Israel memorandum of understanding, which provides $3.8 billion in annual military aid and runs until 2028. “Look, we give them USD 4 billion of things and money, and they don’t need it. The current assistance framework dates to 2016, when then-President Barack Obama signed a 10-year security agreement committing the US to provide Israel with $38 billion in military aid, equivalent to $3.8 billion annually.
Because it’s a lot of money, and I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years. Because it’s too easy, i don’t like that,.
Speaking to Fox News Trump said he had reached an agreement with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu months ago to end the payments. “We’ve already agreed that by the end of this year we won’t be paying Israel,” he said, adding that the US would still help if Israel needed it. He said Netanyahu had approached him about ending the assistance and had been “very understanding” of the decision. You can consider military aid or cash,” he said. “The left uses the USD 4 billion payment — that everybody knows about, it’s no secret — as a signal of unfairness,” Trump said.
The agreement requires Congress to pass annual appropriations bills to release the funds. “You can consider it barter. “And we can’t allow that to happen. It’s almost too easy a target. And Bibi and I have been talking, and we’ve agreed. He was very understanding of it. Under the arrangement, Israel’s ability to spend part of the funds on its own military products was to be phased out, with the money eventually directed entirely towards American defence industries.