By Humeyra Pamuk and Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he made a deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington would stop $4 billion in funding to Israel after the end of this year.
It was not immediately clear which funding Trump meant or how exactly the funding would be stopped at the end of the year, given that the memorandum of understanding that provides $3.8 billion in US military aid to Israel each year does not expire until 2028. Conversations have been under way on how Washington’s assistance to Israel would evolve beyond that date.
Speaking to Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” program, Trump said Israel no longer needed the funding and that some Democrats and left-wing politicians were using the US financial support to Israel as a talking point to criticize Republicans.
“Now, as far as paying Israel, Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal that we give Israel $4 billion a year, and we made a deal months ago that we’re stopping,” Trump said. “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 said.
Neither the White House nor Netanyahu’s office responded to Reuters’ requests for comment.
US public support for Israel has fallen since the Gaza war began in 2023, particularly among Democrats. A June Quinnipiac University poll found 48% of voters and 66% of Democrats believe the US is too supportive of Israel, up from 16% and 20%, respectively, when the question was first asked in 2017.
CRITICISM OF ISRAEL
Support for Israel among Democratic voters has plummeted, candidates critical of Israel are winning Democratic primaries and even moderate lawmakers are increasingly willing to challenge decades of US support for Israel.
Abdul El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim US senator if he wins in Michigan in the midterm elections on Tuesday, opposed unconditional military aid to Israel, saying US funding should prioritize US citizens.
Trump said the left used the US funding as a “signal of unfairness” and that he could not allow that to happen. He specifically mentioned El-Sayed when explaining why he said Washington was stopping the money.
“Because they (Israel) don’t need it, and because why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an El-Sayed when they don’t need it? It’s a bad, it’s a bad talking point,” Trump said.
Some members of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement have also become increasingly critical of Israel, accusing it of having misled Trump — who campaigned in 2024 on a promise to avoid foreign military interventions — into believing Iran could easily be defeated in a war.
Congress passed a law in 2020 authorizing the funding for Israel, but the Senate and House of Representatives must still pass appropriations bills every year to distribute and release the funds.
Netanyahu said in an interview with an Israeli television channel in October: “If you think we’re going to continue receiving what I secured twice, and that’s tens of billions of dollars in American aid for the defense budget, prepare yourselves and get used to the fact that it won’t happen because America has changed.”
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington and Alexander Cormwell in Jerusalem; editing by Michelle Nichols and Paul Simao)
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