By Kit Maher, Oren Liebermann, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States is cutting off $4 billion in aid to Israel at the end of the year because “they don’t need it.”
Trump, speaking to Fox News on the morning of Election Day, suggested that US aid to Israel has become a powerful political talking point for Democrats and questioned why Republicans should “suffer the slings” from candidates like Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed when Israel isn’t in need of assistance.
“It’s a bad talking point because when you say, ‘Why don’t we give everybody $4 billion?’ Israel’s our number one; we give them more than anybody else, and they no longer need it,” he said.
The US provides Israel $3.8 billion of military aid a year under a 10-year memorandum of understanding that began in 2018. It is set to expire in 2028. Trump appears to be suggesting he would terminate it at the end of this year. Israel is allowed to use that aid to purchase US weapons, so the money ultimately goes to American arms manufacturers.
Trump said that if Israel needed the money, he would keep the aid going, but added that he “reached an agreement” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump’s announcement also comes one week after Israel’s election during which the US president offered his full-throated endorsement of Netanyahu. Trump called Netanyahu “the kind of partner that the United States of American is demanding of Israel, a country for which it has done so much.”
The sudden news that Trump will end aid to Israel appears to be a major about-face, removing one of the major pillars of US military support for Israel.
The last reported call between the two leaders was on Saturday. It’s unclear if they have spoken since then. CNN has reached out to Netanyahu’s office and the White House.
Netanyahu has spoken openly about the need to end US military aid to Israel, but never on such a short time line. In May, the US and Israel began formal talks on a new agreement to replace the memorandum of understanding, though it’s not clear if there is any framework in place.
Just days before last week’s election, Netanyahu told an Israeli news channel that the end of US aid was coming. “If you think we’re going to continue receiving what I secured twice, tens of billions of dollars in American aid for the defense budget, get used to the fact that we won’t,” he said.
In March 2025, the Trump administration also authorized a $4 billion military aid package to Israel after the collapse of the second Gaza ceasefire.
Pressed on Fox whether he was cutting of $4 billion in military aid or $4 billion as a check, he said, “Any way you want to define it.”
“You can consider it barter. You can consider military aid or cash. What we give them — $4 billion of things and money — and they don’t need it. And I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money,” Trump said.
He said Israel “can buy whatever they want.”
The head of Israel’s left-wing Democrats party lambasted Netanyahu after Trump’s announcement, calling it a “huge failure.” Yair Golan, a retired deputy chief of staff in Israel’s military, said in a statement on X, “A responsible prime minister would have fought to increase America aid, not eliminate it. Netanyahu is deepening the security and economic crisis and endangering Israel’s future.”
Netanyahu biographer and journalist Anshel Pfeffer said Trump’s sudden declaration that US aid to Israel would abruptly stop at the end of the year was a personal failure for Israel’s longest-serving leader and for Ron Dermer, a member of Netanyahu’s inner circle who managed the relationship with the Trump administration. “Netanyahu and Dermer, who both claim to be the biggest experts in American politics, have together overseen the most dramatic decline in Israel-US relations,” he said on X.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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CNN’s Tal Shalev contributed to this report.
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