US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington would stop its annual $4 billion in payments to Israel by the end of December, following an agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump said Israel no longer needed the funding, but added that the United States would help if the country required support.
Speaking on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Trump also argued that Democrats and left-wing politicians used US financial support for Israel to criticize Republicans. He said the payments would end because Israel did not need them.
It was not immediately clear which funding Trump was referring to. A US-Israel memorandum of understanding provides for $3.8 billion in annual US military assistance and is due to expire in 2028. Discussions are already underway about how US assistance will develop after that date. Netanyahu’s office had not commented on Trump’s remarks by Tuesday afternoon.
Trump said Israel could buy weapons if it wished, adding that the United States makes what he described as the world’s best arms. Israel has received about $308 billion in US foreign assistance since the end of World War II and is also a major buyer of American weapons.
In a May interview with CBS, Netanyahu said he hoped Israel would become independent of US military support within a decade. In a June letter to a US congressman, he wrote that the time had come for Israel to move from being a recipient of aid to being a partner.
Public support for Israel in the United States has fallen since the start of the war in the Middle East, with Democrats particularly critical. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in June found that 48% of voters and 66% of Democrats believed the US supported Israel too much. When the question was first asked in 2017, the figures were 16% and 20%, respectively.
Sources: Folha Mundo.