President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States will stop its annual $4 billion funding to Israel at the end of 2026, claiming he reached an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu months ago.
Trump made the remarks in a telephone interview with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” on the morning of the U.S. midterm elections.
“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.”
The President said Israel no longer needs the assistance and will remain able to purchase American weapons, with additional help available if needed.
“Because they don’t need it, and because why should we suffer the slings from lunatics… It’s a bad talking point,” Trump said, arguing that U.S. funding for Israel had been used by some Democrats to criticize Republicans.
Trump said Netanyahu himself proposed ending the assistance and had been “very understanding” about the decision.
It was not immediately clear which specific funding mechanism Trump was referring to or how it would be stopped.
The current U.S. assistance framework is governed by a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2016 under the Obama administration. It commits $38 billion in military aid to Israel from fiscal years 2019 through 2028, amounting to $3.8 billion annually – $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing and $500 million for cooperative missile defense programs.
The MOU is not a legally binding treaty, and funds must still be appropriated annually by Congress. A 2020 law authorized the funding, but Congress must pass appropriations bills each year to release it.
Neither the White House nor Netanyahu’s office immediately responded to requests for comment.
Netanyahu said in a television interview 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.”
The announcement comes as public support for Israel in the U.S. has shifted since the Gaza war began in 2023.