For more than a generation, American military grants to Israel have ranked among the steadiest lines in the U.S. foreign policy budget. That arrangement now has an expiration date. The roughly $4 billion Washington provides each year will stop when 2026 ends, with Israel instead paying for the American weapons it wants, President Trump said in a Fox News interview Tuesday morning. The timing drew notice. Polls were opening for the midterm elections as he spoke, and he presented the change partly as a way to strip left-wing Democrats of a "bad talking point," The New York Times reported.
The current agreement, signed in 2016, is the third of its kind and runs through fiscal 2028, while Netanyahu has publicly argued that Israel has "come of age" and should see the aid wound down, according to a Congressional Research Service brief from June. Earlier accords phased out economic assistance, leaving military financing that mostly funds orders from American defense contractors. Netanyahu has his own incentive to exit. Aid votes have become a lever for lawmakers seeking to influence Israeli conduct in Gaza.
Ending grants does not sever the supply relationship. Israel's fighter fleet is nearly all American-made and its missile defenses lean on U.S. backing, so the country is likely to remain tied to American industry for years, the CRS brief said. The ritual appropriations battle, however, would fade. Details of the replacement deal, including any trade or technology component, have not been released. Netanyahu's office had no immediate comment, and the question lands as he works to assemble a coalition after last week's inconclusive Israeli vote, the Times reported.