US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington would stop providing $4 billion in annual funding to Israel after the end of 2026, following an agreement he said he had reached with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump said Israel no longer required the financial assistance and argued that US support had become a political issue, with some Democrats and left-wing politicians using it to criticise Republicans.
“We’ve already agreed that by the end of this year we won’t be paying Israel. Now we’ll help Israel if they need it,” Trump said, adding that Israel could purchase weapons independently.
There was no immediate response from Netanyahu’s office to Trump’s remarks.
It remained unclear which specific funding arrangement Trump was referring to. The existing US-Israel memorandum of understanding provides for $3.8 billion in annual military assistance and is due to expire in 2028. Discussions have been underway on the future of Washington’s military support beyond that period.
In a May interview, Netanyahu said he hoped Israel would gradually reduce its dependence on US military assistance over the next decade. In a letter to a US congressman in June, he also said the time had come for Israel to move from being an aid recipient to becoming a partner.
Trump’s comments come amid declining public support for Israel in the United States since the Gaza war began in 2023, particularly among Democratic voters.
A June poll by Quinnipiac University found that 48 percent of US voters and 66 percent of Democrats believed Washington was providing too much support to Israel. When the question was first asked in 2017, the corresponding figures were 16 percent and 20 percent.
Criticism of Israel has also become more prominent among Democratic candidates, with lawmakers across the party showing greater willingness to question longstanding US support for the country.
Trump said the annual funding had become a political talking point, arguing that the United States should not allow the issue to be used to portray its policies as unfair.
He reiterated that the payments would end by the close of 2026, maintaining that Israel no longer needed the financial assistance.
