Trump Promises to End $4 Billion in Aid to Israel
After nearly two years of generously financing Israel’s military with American taxpayers’ money, President Donald Trump has decided to end that support. Conveniently, the revelation arrived on Election Day.
On Tuesday, Trump announced that Washington would stop providing Israel roughly $4 billion in annual military aid by the end of 2026.
The promise comes as Americans increasingly question Washington’s extraordinary financial and military commitments to Israel. Yet Trump offered no newfound commitment to constitutional limits on federal spending. Instead, he openly acknowledged that the payments had become a political liability for Republicans.
Whether this sudden concern for American taxpayers will outlast the elections is anyone’s guess.
Trump’s Vow
Speaking by telephone on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning, Trump announced that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to end the payments.
Trump argued that Israel no longer needs American assistance because of its economic prosperity:
They don’t need it.
He added:
Israel is a very thriving country.
Trump insisted that Netanyahu himself had proposed ending the assistance:
I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money…. He brought it up. He said, “I think it would be appropriate if we do not receive aid.”
The president clarified that Israel could continue purchasing American military equipment without taxpayer subsidies:
They can buy whatever they want.
Trump also presented the decision as a step toward fiscal responsibility:
We’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money. You know, somebody that wants to have a balanced budget. I’d love to be able to balance our budget.
Netanyahu’s office offered no immediate confirmation of the agreement. In January, the Israeli prime minister proposed gradually eliminating American assistance over a decade. Trump’s announcement suggests a dramatically faster timetable.
More strikingly, the two leaders supposedly discussed the arrangement for years. Yet Americans learned of the breakthrough on the very morning they went to the polls.
A “Bad Talking Point”
Trump acknowledged the political calculations behind his decision.
Referring to Democratic criticism of American aid to Israel, he complained:
The best talking point that these lunatics have on the Left.… The Left uses $4 billion payment that everybody knows about, no secret, as a signal of unfairness and we can’t allow that to happen. I don’t like that, because it is too easy.
The president specifically singled out Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan:
Why? Because they [Israel] don’t need it…. And because why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like El-Sayed when they don’t need it?
El-Sayed has argued that American taxpayers should not finance foreign militaries while struggling to afford basic necessities at home.
Speaking to reporters in late October, he declared:
I don’t think we should be funding foreign militaries generally…. That’s Israel. It’s also Egypt. It’s also Saudi Arabia and Qatar and UAE.
El-Sayed stressed he favored spending that money on domestic priorities, an argument that, ironically, echoes Trump’s own “America First” promises.
Other Democrats
El-Sayed is hardly alone. Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson has opposed continued military assistance to Israel.
In Michigan, Democratic congressional candidate Donavan McKinney pledged to “end the military aid and arms that America gives to Israel.” He defeated a pro-Israel incumbent in the August primary.
New York congressional candidate Claire Valdez has called for an arms embargo and an end to military assistance.
The opposition extends into Congress. In April, 40 members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted to advance a measure blocking a $295 million bulldozer sale to Israel, while 36 supported blocking a $151.8 million sale of 1,000-pound bombs.
In July, 103 House Democrats supported an amendment introduced by Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky to eliminate $3.3 billion in military financing for Israel. It failed, 104 to 314, with 10 members voting “present.”
The votes underscored growing opposition to Washington’s military commitments to Israel.
Billions in American Aid
The assistance Trump promises to end stems largely from a 2016 agreement negotiated under President Barack Obama. It provides for $38 billion over 10 fiscal years, from 2019 through 2028, subject to congressional appropriations.
The package includes $3.3 billion annually in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and another $500 million for missile defense.
Under FMF, American taxpayers finance weapons and military equipment for Israel, primarily through U.S. defense contractors. Supporters tout the arrangement as economically beneficial. Yet the transaction remains straightforward: Taxpayers subsidize a foreign military while American weapons manufacturers collect the proceeds.
Congress has already approved the funding for fiscal 2026. According to the Congressional Research Service, lawmakers appropriated more than $4 billion in military assistance and defense cooperation funding for Israel, including $202 million for programs outside the existing agreement.
Meanwhile, Washington and Israel have been negotiating a new security arrangement. As we reported last November, Israel initially sought a 20-year agreement, repackaging military assistance as joint research, weapons development, and production. The Israelis reportedly wanted the arrangement to “include even more in annual assistance.” In May, Israel’s Defense Ministry confirmed formal negotiations.
The regular payments represent only part of Washington’s commitment.
According to Brown University’s Costs of War project, Washington spent $21.7 billion on military aid to Israel and another $9.65 billion to $12.07 billion on related operations across the Middle East between October 2023 and September 2025.
Those figures exclude the separate U.S. war against Iran that began in February 2026. By October 16, the Pentagon estimated that the conflict had cost American taxpayers another $47.1 billion.
Despite Trump’s repeated promises to end costly foreign entanglements, his administration continued supporting Israel militarily and started another war — also because of Israel. Trump’s latest announcement offers no guarantee that emergency assistance or future military commitments will cease.
Americans Sour on Israel
Trump’s announcement comes amid a significant shift in American public opinion.
A March Pew Research Center survey found that 60 percent of Americans viewed Israel unfavorably, up from 42 percent in 2022. Among Republicans younger than 50, 57 percent held unfavorable views.
An October Chicago Council survey found that 56 percent favored reducing or ending military aid to Israel, including 35 percent who wanted it stopped entirely.
A September Marquette Law School poll found that 55 percent believed Washington provided too much military aid to Israel. Only 12 percent considered it insufficient.
Trump’s remarks suggest he recognizes the political problem. He did not primarily invoke constitutional limits, the staggering federal debt, or Americans’ right to keep more of their earnings. Instead, he seemed more troubled by Democrats exploiting the spending in their messaging than by the spending itself.
If ending military subsidies to Israel is the right policy, why did Trump, who campaigned on putting America first, wait nearly two years to embrace it?
Trump’s long record of broken promises gives Americans ample reason for skepticism. With negotiations over a new security framework underway, Washington could simply replace the payments with other forms of military assistance, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. Until Trump follows through with concrete action, his Election Day declaration remains precisely that: another promise, conveniently timed and politically useful.
