Trump says U.S. will stop paying Israel by end of year

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have agreed to end U.S. aid to Israel by the end of this year, a claim that surprised Fox News host Brian Kilmeade during a call-in interview on “Fox & Friends.” Trump said the United States gives Israel about $4 billion a year and that the two leaders reached the arrangement months ago.

Speaking on the program, Trump described the decision as mutual. “Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal,” he said, adding that Israel is “fine with it, because they’ve become a very successful country, they don’t need it, and we won’t be paying anymore, Israel.” He said the U.S. would still help Israel “if they need it,” calling it “a great ally.”

According to the Fox News interview, Trump made the remark while discussing border security and accusing former President Joe Biden of allowing noncitizens “who hate Israel” into the country “by the millions.” He then turned to the aid question without being prompted, which led Kilmeade to ask whether the president meant the roughly $4 billion in annual military assistance. Trump did not directly answer that question at first, instead citing U.S. control of the Strait of Hormuz, a claim that was complicated by U.S. strikes in the strait the previous day. Kilmeade pressed him again later in the segment, and Trump responded, “Why? Because they don’t need it, Brian.”

The claim comes against a longer debate over the future of American aid to Israel, which has been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance in history, receiving more than $300 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars since its founding in 1948. Earlier discussions this year centered on a plan to phase out that aid over a decade rather than end it within months. Netanyahu has backed a phase-out, but he has also pushed a separate effort to integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries in what has been described as an unprecedented way, a move critics warn would be extremely difficult to reverse.

Other outlets reported the same statement. The Associated Press’s coverage of the interview reported that Trump said the U.S. would stop giving $4 billion in aid to Israel next year, and that Netanyahu had approached him about the idea and that the two had discussed it for a couple of years. Coverage from NBC News and the New York Post likewise reported that Trump said the U.S. would end the aid by the end of 2026 and that Netanyahu had agreed to the move. Those reports describe the same interview, and the timing they cite differs slightly from one another, a discrepancy that has not been resolved in the public record.

Separately, PBS reported that Netanyahu had pushed Trump for another wave of strikes on Iran after the U.S. elections, citing two regional officials and a third person familiar with the matter. That report is not directly tied to the aid remarks, but it adds context to the broader state of U.S.-Israel relations as Trump made his comments.

The remarks leave open how any change would be implemented, including whether the timeline Trump described would be formalized through Congress or executive action. Neither the Israeli government nor the White House has provided a detailed written account of the agreement in the reporting available so far.

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Connor Quincy

Technology Reporter

Connor Quincy covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Core Memo. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

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