(Central News Agency, Washington, 3rd Comprehensive Foreign News Report) U.S. President Trump said today that he has reached an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Washington will stop providing $4 billion in financial aid to Israel after the end of this year, but will still sell weapons to its closest Middle East ally.
Reuters reported that Trump made the above remarks as voters went to the polls to cast their votes in the mid-term elections in the United States to decide who has control of Congress, but did not provide relevant details, and it was unclear which funding he was referring to. Given that the memorandum of understanding to provide $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel annually does not expire until September 2028, he did not explain how this funding will be terminated before the end of the year. Various circles have also been discussing how Washington’s aid to Israel will change after September 2028.
Trump said on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" that Israel no longer needs the funds, and that some Democrats and left-wing politicians are using U.S. financial aid to Israel to attack his fellow Republicans.
Trump said: "Now, on the matter of funding Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and I have an agreement that we give Israel $4 billion a year, but we made an agreement a few months ago that we will stop that funding. We have agreed that at the end of the year, we will no longer pay this amount to Israel. Now, if they need it, we will still provide assistance."
It remains unclear why Trump chose today to announce a deal he claimed was reached months ago.
Israel held an election on October 27. Netanyahu, who has close ties with U.S. Republicans, lost his majority in power, but it also prevented the opposition from obtaining a clear way to remove him from power, making Israel's future leadership situation full of uncertainty. The election results pave the way for negotiations on the formation of a new government, which are expected to be protracted.
Neither the White House nor Netanyahu's office responded to Reuters' requests for comment.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza War in 2023, the American public's support for Israel has continued to decline, especially among Democrats. A June Quinnipiac University poll found that 48% of voters and 66% of Democrats believed the United States was too supportive of Israel, a significant increase from 16% and 20% in the first survey in 2017.
Polls and nonpartisan analysts say Democrats are likely to take back control of the House of Representatives from Trump's Republican Party in today's midterm elections. As for the ownership of control of the Bundesrat, it is still unclear.
In a hotly contested election, Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed is vying to represent Michigan in the Senate. If elected, Seder would be the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate. He has long opposed unconditional military aid to Israel and said U.S. funds should be given priority to U.S. citizens.
Trump said the left viewed the U.S. funding as a "symbol of injustice" and that he would not allow that to happen. When Trump explained why Washington wanted to terminate this funding, he specifically named Seder, highlighting the political nature of his remarks.
"Because they (Israel) don't need it, and if they don't need it, why should we take unprovoked attacks from lunatics like Seder? That's a bad, very bad statement," Trump said.
Some members of Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement have also been increasingly critical of Israel, accusing it of misleading the president into thinking Iran could be easily defeated in a war. During Trump’s 2024 campaign, he promised to avoid foreign military intervention.
Netanyahu said in an interview with an Israeli TV channel in October: "If you think we can continue to get what I fought for twice, which is tens of billions of dollars in U.S. aid for the defense budget, please be mentally prepared and adapt to this fact. This is not going to happen, because the United States has changed."
Agence France-Presse reported that Trump’s announcement today also triggered a backlash from Israeli opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot, who said it showed that Netanyahu must step down.
