Trump says US will end $4 billion a year in military aid to Israel, catching Israeli officials off guard

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington will stop giving Israel about $4 billion a year in military aid. He said Israel no longer needs the money and will still be able to buy American weapons.

Speaking to Fox News by phone as polls opened for the US midterm elections, Trump said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed on the move 'months ago'. He said Netanyahu had first raised the idea and that Israel was 'a very successful country'. Asked whether the change covered equipment as well as cash, he gave no details, and he said aid could continue if Israel needed it.

A campaign 'talking point'

Trump linked the decision to the election campaign, saying the aid had become an easy line of attack for critics. He named Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, and said Republicans should not take heat over money Israel does not need. Reports differed on when the cut would take effect. Some quoted Trump as saying the end of this year, others from 2027.

Most US military aid to Israel comes under a 10-year memorandum of understanding signed in 2016 under President Barack Obama. It provides about $3.8 billion a year, most of it Foreign Military Financing that Israel spends on American defence equipment. ABC News reported that the agreement runs until the end of fiscal year 2028, and that Congress wrote the annual funding levels into a 2020 defence law. Trump did not say how the aid would be wound down or whether Congress would be asked to act.

Surprise in Israel

Israeli finance and defence officials were surprised by the announcement, according to Israeli media reports cited by The Times of Israel and ABC News. Finance ministry sources said next year's budget had been drawn up on the basis of the existing deal. One senior defence official told the public broadcaster Kan the announcement was not expected, 'certainly not today'.

Netanyahu's office did not comment immediately. Netanyahu has said in the past that he wants to phase out US aid gradually, over about a decade, and replace it with joint projects. Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot said it was dangerous that Israel's defence establishment had learned of the change from the media, and that Netanyahu must give answers at once.

The announcement comes at a difficult time for Netanyahu. His bloc lost its parliamentary majority in last week's election, and President Isaac Herzog is due to begin talks with parties on who should try to form the next government. A poll by ABC News, the Washington Post and Ipsos last month found 58% of Americans wanted US military support for Israel reduced or ended.