Trump says American military aid to Israel will end this year
President Trump said on polling day that the United States would stop its roughly $4bn a year in aid to Israel at the end of 2026, under a deal he said he had struck with Benjamin Netanyahu. “We’ve already agreed that by the end of this year we won’t be paying Israel,” he told Fox News. Israeli defence officials said they had not expected the announcement.
The existing ten-year memorandum provides $3.8bn a year and runs beyond 2026, and Congress, not the president, appropriates the money, so the cut may prove slower than promised. Mr Trump tied the move to Democratic attacks, calling the aid “a bad talking point”. Gadi Eisenkot, Mr Netanyahu’s chief rival in coalition talks, said learning of the change “through the media” showed the prime minister “can no longer be trusted”. European shares recovered their earlier losses after the remarks, and oil prices fell.