Trump shifts $4 billion Israel aid to arms sales

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will stop providing $4 billion annually in aid to Israel starting in 2027. Instead, the U.S. will sell weapons directly to its Middle East ally. Trump made the declaration during a phone call to Fox News on the night of the midterm elections.

The president stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approached him with the proposal. Trump said the two leaders have discussed the change for several years. He argued that Israel does not require the funding and that the sum is too large for the U.S. budget. Trump noted that the aid has become a campaign argument for Democratic candidates. He specifically named Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan Senate candidate and vocal critic of Israel, as someone using the issue.

"They can call it a trade. They can call it military aid or cash," Trump told Fox News. "Look, we give them $40 billion worth of stuff and money, and they don't need it. And Bibi Netanyahu came to me, and we've been talking about it for a couple of years because it's a lot of money."

Trump framed the move as a correction to a perceived imbalance. He claimed the left uses the $4 billion payment as a sign of injustice. "We can't allow that," Trump said. "It is almost a target that is too easy. And Bibi and I have been talking, and we have been in agreement. He was very understanding about it."

Analysts suggested the timing may have been political. David Schenker, Trump's former chief Middle East diplomat and now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, assessed the impact on voters. "It is an open question if this was for politics, but it will not change Republican voters, and certainly will not change Democratic voters," Schenker said.

Netanyahu had not commented on the news by Tuesday night in Israel. His office remained silent while the prime minister posted twice on social media. Those posts focused on his claims of foreign interference in Israeli elections rather than the U.S. aid shift. Opposition leaders reacted quickly to the announcement.

Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu's main rival and a former military chief, demanded the prime minister speak to the public. Eisenkot said it was dangerous for Israel to learn of strategic changes through media reports. "The fact that the defense establishment of Israel is learning of a change in our strategic relationship through the media, at the same time as the Israeli public, shows how dangerous Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct is," Eisenkot wrote in a statement.

Yair Golan, a leader of the Israeli opposition bloc, warned that ending the aid would strike Israel's security. Golan, a former deputy military chief, said the cost of defense needs would fall entirely on the Israeli public. "The burden of financing defense needs at such a critical time will fall entirely on the Israeli public," Golan stated.

The U.S. has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel over decades. In 2016, President Barack Obama signed a 10-year agreement worth $38 billion. That pact allowed Israel to gradually spend more funds on Israeli products, with the goal of shifting all spending to U.S. military industries over time. Netanyahu told The Economist in January that he wanted to gradually reduce U.S. aid over the next 10 years.

The current agreement does not expire until 2028. A sudden cutoff would be difficult to execute because the change depends on Congress. The 2027 National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision to expand U.S.-Israel cooperation in developing new defense technology. That bill has not yet been approved by Congress. Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, criticized the bill, arguing that such integration would take sovereignty away from the United States.