Trump Says U.S. Aid to Israel Ends This Year. The Written Agreement Runs Through 2028, and He Did Not Say How It Would End

President Donald Trump said on Election Day that the United States will stop providing roughly $4 billion a year in assistance to Israel by the end of 2026, saying the idea came from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His remarks, made in a phone interview with Fox & Friends, did not explain how the change would be carried out under the current written aid agreement, which runs through 2028.

What Trump said

"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, according to The Jerusalem Post's account of the interview. "We won't be paying Israel anymore," he said, adding that "by the end of this year we won't be paying Israel."

The hosts repeatedly asked whether he meant military aid, direct financial assistance or weapons deliveries, the Post reported. "We were giving them $4 billion. We are, but it gets cut off at the end of the year," Trump said. Asked whether he meant hardware or "a check," he said: "I'm giving four in 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."

Trump said Israel would remain free to buy American weapons and could receive help if needed. "We'll help Israel if they need it — you know they've been a great ally," he said, according to NBC News.

"Can I be honest with you? He brought it up," Trump said of Netanyahu, according to NBC. "He said, 'I think it would be appropriate if we do not receive aid,' because he understands that this is one of their points of contention."

Netanyahu's office declined to comment Tuesday, NBC reported. In January, Netanyahu said he hoped to "taper off" American military aid over the next decade, according to NBC.

The agreement on paper

The United States agreed in 2016, under the Obama administration, to provide Israel $3.8 billion a year under a memorandum of understanding that took effect in October 2018, NBC reported. It specifies $3.3 billion a year in foreign military financing grants and $500 million a year for joint missile defense, and it is due to expire in 2028. The Jerusalem Post described the agreement as covering fiscal years 2019 through 2028 and totaling $38 billion.

Trump's comments raise the question of what happens to that agreement, the Post wrote. His remarks did not say whether the administration would seek to amend the memorandum, ask Congress to change appropriations, or stop disbursing funds already provided for. Annual military financing for Israel is appropriated by Congress, which will be under Democratic control when the new session begins in January.

Total U.S. military aid since October 2023 has been far higher than the annual commitment. A paper by William D. Hartung of the Quincy Institute for Brown University's Costs of War project found the United States spent at least $21.7 billion in military aid to Israel in the two years after the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, NBC reported.

The political context

Trump tied the decision to the U.S. campaign. "The left uses the $4 billion payment that everybody knows about, it's no secret, as a signal of unfairness, and we can't allow that to happen," he said, according to the Post, referring to Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed as "this lunatic that's running in Michigan." El-Sayed opposed unconditional military aid to Israel, Reuters reported.

A Quinnipiac University poll in June found 48 percent of voters and 66 percent of Democrats believe the United States is too supportive of Israel, up from 16 percent and 20 percent when the question was first asked in 2017, according to Reuters.

Reaction in Israel

"The fact that the defense establishment — along with the citizens of Israel — learned of a shift in the strategic relationship through the media demonstrates just how much Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct poses a real danger," said Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff and head of the Yashar party, according to NBC. Yair Golan, head of the Democrats party, said that "the cessation of American aid deals a severe blow to Israel's security."

Markets and the Iran war

Brent crude fell 3 percent to $101 a barrel after Trump's comments, its lowest in more than three weeks, as traders read them as possible evidence the war with Iran could end without escalation, NBC reported. In the same interview, Trump said U.S. forces had struck an Iranian air-defense facility the previous night, the Post reported.

What is not known

Neither the White House nor the Israeli government had released a written description of the arrangement Trump described in the reports reviewed, and it is not clear whether funds already appropriated for fiscal 2026 and 2027 would be affected.