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US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington would stop giving Israel around $4 billion a year in military aid from 2027. He made the announcement as polls opened across the United States for the midterm elections.
Speaking by phone to Fox News, Trump said Israel no longer needed the money, but that the US would keep selling arms to its closest Middle East ally. He said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had come to him with the idea, and that they had been discussing it for a couple of years.
“Look, we give them $4 billion of things and money, and they don’t need it,” Trump said.
He also tied the decision to the campaign. He said the aid had become too easy a target for critics such as Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat and outspoken critic of Israel who is running for the Senate in Michigan.
Unlike France, Spain, Italy and many other European countries, the US has no electoral silence period banning campaigning or political comment on polling day. The main restrictions are state laws on campaigning near polling stations, so politicians, the president included, are free to give interviews while voting is under way.
Netanyahu’s office did not immediately comment. Gadi Eisenkot, his main rival, said it was dangerous that Israel’s defence establishment had learned of the change through the media, and called for the prime minister to be replaced.
The current 10-year, $38 billion agreement was signed in 2016 under Barack Obama and runs until 2028.
The announcement came as tensions rose again in the Gulf. A US official said American forces had carried out defensive strikes on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz that were using surface-to-air missiles. Iranian state television reported explosions on Qeshm Island.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, said Tehran had delivered a “firm and rational response” to Washington and that it was now up to the US to prevent renewed war. He told parliament Iran remained ready “with its finger on the trigger”, but did not say what the response was.
Additional sources • AFP, AP