Trump Announces End to $4 Billion Annual U.S. Aid Package to Israel
If confirmed through a formal budget request or executive order, the move would represent the largest single reduction in U.S. Bilateral assistance to Israel in decades, shifting a long-standing...
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will end its annual aid package to Israel, which has totaled approximately $4 billion per year in recent fiscal years, stating the decision came from an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump made the announcement during an appearance on Fox & Friends on November 3, 2026, according to the New York Post.
"They don't need it," Trump said on the program. "We give them more than anybody else, and they no longer need it. We've been doing it for years. I've been doing it, but Israel is a very thriving country. They don't need it. If they did need it, I would say keep it going."
Trump indicated the aid would continue through the end of the current calendar year before being discontinued. He attributed the idea in part to Netanyahu, though the source material does not include the full account of the prime minister's reported role in the proposal.
U.S. Foreign military financing to Israel has been a consistent feature of annual congressional appropriations for decades. The State Department and Defense Security Cooperation Agency are the primary channels through which such aid flows. According to USASpending.gov records and annual Congressional Budget Justifications published by the State Department, Israel has received approximately $3.8 billion per year in Foreign Military Financing in recent fiscal years, with additional funds periodically authorized for missile defense programs such as Iron Dome and David's Sling through separate Department of Defense appropriations.
The total figure cited by Trump, $4 billion annually, aligns with the combined foreign military financing and supplemental missile defense co-production funding that Congress has appropriated in recent years. The precise breakdown between base FMF and supplemental defense cooperation funds for the most recent fiscal year would be detailed in the State Department's Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations, a public document.
Any formal termination of congressionally appropriated foreign assistance would require either a rescission request from the executive branch to Congress or a determination under existing executive authority, depending on the legal mechanism used. Appropriations authority rests with Congress under Article I of the Constitution. Whether Trump's statement reflects a formal budget action, an executive directive to the State Department, or a negotiated bilateral understanding not yet codified in a public document is unknown as of publication. A formal rescission or impoundment notice filed with Congress would be the document that would confirm the legal mechanism.
U.S. Aid to Israel has had consistent bipartisan support in Congress for more than 50 years. The 10-year Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Obama administration and the Israeli government in 2016 committed the U.S. To providing $38 billion in military assistance between fiscal years 2019 and 2028, at a rate of $3.8 billion per year. Whether the current announcement modifies or supersedes that MOU is not stated in the available source material. The text of the 2016 MOU is a public document held by the State Department.
The announcement comes the day before the 2026 midterm elections. Congressional reaction has not yet been recorded in the Congressional Record as of publication. Members of both parties on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have historically been involved in oversight of foreign military financing levels.
The geopolitical context includes ongoing U.S. Military engagement in the broader Middle East region. The Congressional Times previously reported that U.S. Military Strikes Iranian Infrastructure on Qeshm Island Before Midterms, a development that reflects continued U.S. Military activity in the region as the aid announcement was made.
Several facts remain unknown from the available source material: the specific legal mechanism Trump intends to use to stop congressionally appropriated funds, whether Netanyahu has made a public statement confirming the reported agreement, and whether any formal notification has been transmitted to the relevant House and Senate appropriations subcommittees. The State Department's next Congressional Budget Justification filing and any rescission request submitted to Congress would be the documents that answer those questions.