US President Donald Trump told FOX News on Tuesday, November 3, that the US will stop providing Israel with the annual $4 billion in aid by the end of the year.
Trump claimed that Israel does not need US assistance anymore to buy weapons, as it can do it on its own.
“We were giving them $4 billion – we are – but it gets cut off at the end of the year,” Trump noted, claiming that the suggestion was brought forward by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Israel’s our number one. We give them more than anybody else, and they no longer need it.” The US president added.
As per the existing security agreement that runs through 2028, the US provides Israel with roughly $3.8 billion in annual military assistance.
Critics considered Trump’s announcement to be a desperate campaign move and electoral propaganda to influence voters as polls opened nationwide, by reassuring constituencies skeptical of mounting US foreign spending on the multi-front war across West Asia.
Netanyahu had already expressed the intention to eventually end Israel’s dependence on US defense funding a few days before the Israeli election on October 27, justifying his position by saying the US “has changed.”
Read more: Israel’s elections: all roads lead to genocide
“If you think we’re going to continue receiving what I secured twice, and that’s tens of billions of dollars in American aid for the defense budget, prepare yourselves and get used to the fact that it won’t happen, because America has changed,” he declared.
Many believe Netanyahu was referring to the growing opposition in the US against funding the Israeli war machine, in the aftermath of Israel’s genocidal aggression on Gaza and the atrocities perpetrated against Palestinians in general in the occupied territories.
Read more: Three years of genocide in Gaza, the Palestinian people remain steadfast
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