US to Stop Funding Israel by End of Year: Trump

Ahead of the crucial United States midterm elections, where much is at stake for President Donald Trump, he announced that his country will “stop funding” Israel after the end of the year. “Now, as far as paying Israel, Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal that we give Israel USD 4 billion ⁠a year, and ⁠we made a deal months ago that we’re stopping,” Trump told ⁠Fox News ’ Fox and Friends after voting in the midterm elections began. “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.” The Republican says Israel doesn’t need the aid and it’s a lot of money for the US to spend. “Because they don’t need it. If they did need it, I would say ‘keep going,'” he said. The United States has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel over the last few years. Trump also says that US aid to Israel has become a Democratic talking point for candidates such as Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. An academic study published last year showed the US under the administrations of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Trump provided at least USD 21.7 billion in military assistance to Israel after the start of the Gaza war in 2023. The study was published on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel that provoked the conflict. Another study, also published last year by the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs, said the US had spent roughly USD 10 billion more on security aid and operations in the broader Middle East in the previous two years. While the reports relied on open-source material for most of their findings, they offered some of the most comprehensive accounts of US military aid to close ally Israel and estimated costs of direct American military involvement in the Middle East.