• Analysis
Trump says US aid to Israel of $4 billion will stop after this year
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States will halt $4 billion in annual funding to Israel after the end of this year, announcing the move on Fox News' Fox and Friends and saying he had agreed it with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu months ago.
What Trump said
Trump made the announcement in an interview with Fox News' Fox and Friends, saying Israel no longer needed the $4 billion annual payments. He said he and Netanyahu struck the deal months ago to end the money.
Trump said the US would still come to Israel's aid if it were needed:
We've already agreed that by the end of this year we won't be paying Israel. Now we'll help Israel if they need it,
He added that the US had been giving Israel $4 billion but that the payments get cut off at the end of the year because Israel does not need them.
What the halt covers
It was not immediately clear which exact funding Trump meant. A memorandum of understanding providing $3.8 billion in annual US military aid to Israel is approaching its expiration in 2028, and talks are under way on assistance beyond that date.
Reaction and context
Netanyahu's office gave no immediate comment on Trump's remarks. In May, Netanyahu told CBS he hoped to wean Israel off US military support within a decade, and in a June letter to a US congressman he wrote that the time had come for Israel to move from aid recipient to partner.
Trump said Israel can buy whatever it wants, noting that the US makes the greatest weapons in the world. He also said some Democrats and left-wing politicians use US support for Israel as a talking point against Republicans.
Shifting US opinion
US public support for Israel has fallen since the Gaza war began in 2023, particularly among Democrats. A June Quinnipiac University poll found:
- •48 percent of voters think the US is too supportive of Israel
- •66 percent of Democrats hold that view
- •those figures are up from 16 percent and 20 percent in 2017
Candidates critical of Israel are winning Democratic primaries, and moderate lawmakers are increasingly willing to challenge decades of US support for Israel.
