President Donald Trump says the United States will end about $4 billion a year in military aid to Israel by the end of 2026 — a stunning announcement from a president widely described as the most pro-Israel leader of modern times. Trump ends Israel military aid, he said, under a deal he claims he struck with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu months ago. But with no written agreement published, no confirmation from Jerusalem, and the money itself written into American law by Congress, the announcement has raised as many questions as it has answered.
The declaration came on Election Day, November 3, 2026, in a phone interview with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” programme, as Americans were voting in midterm elections that would hand both chambers of Congress to the Democrats. Here is what he said, what the deal covers, and whether a president can end the payments alone.
What Trump announced on Election Day
Speaking to Fox News on the morning of November 3, Trump said he and Netanyahu had already agreed to stop the annual payments.
“Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal that we give Israel $4 billion a year, and we made a deal months ago that we’re stopping,” Trump said. “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.”
He added that Israel no longer needed the money. “You can consider it barter. You can consider military aid or cash,” he said. “Look, we give them $4 billion of things and money, and they don’t need it. And I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money.”
Trump also made clear that ending the aid would not mean cutting Israel off from American weapons. Israel would still be able to buy US arms — drawing a line between direct aid payments and arms sales. The distinction matters: Washington would stop giving, but it would keep selling.
The announcement was short on detail. Trump did not explain how the funding would be halted, or whether the cutoff would cover military equipment, cash, or both. CNN reported that it had reached out to Netanyahu’s office and the White House for additional details.
The $4 billion deal — and the agreement that runs to 2028
To understand why Trump’s announcement caused such confusion, it helps to know what the $4 billion actually is.
The United States provides Israel with $3.8 billion of military aid a year under a 10-year memorandum of understanding signed in 2016, during the Obama administration. The deal totals $38 billion over the fiscal years 2019 to 2028, and it does not expire until September 2028. It covers $3.3 billion a year in Foreign Military Financing plus $500 million a year for missile-defence programmes such as Iron Dome.
Trump’s timetable, if carried out as he described it, would cut that arrangement short by almost two years. The president appears to be suggesting he would terminate the memorandum at the end of 2026, rather than letting it run to 2028.
That is not a new idea in Israeli politics. Netanyahu told The Economist in January 2026 that he wanted to “taper off” US military aid to Israel within 10 years.
What is new is the speed Trump is proposing. A gradual taper over a decade is one thing; stopping the payments within weeks is quite another — and it is the gap between those two ideas that has left analysts, allies and critics all asking the same question: what exactly has been agreed?
Why now? The politics behind the announcement
Trump’s own explanation was strikingly political. He said the aid had become a “bad talking point” for Republicans, because Democrats were using it against them on the campaign trail.
“It’s a bad talking point because when you say, ‘Why don’t we give everybody $4 billion?’ Israel’s our number one; we give them more than anybody else, and they no longer need it,” Trump said. He pointed to candidates like Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, and questioned why Republicans should “suffer the slings” over aid to a country that, in his words, no longer needs it.
The timing was no accident. The announcement landed on Election Day itself, as voters were deciding control of Congress. Democrats won control of Congress in the November 3 midterm elections, in a sweeping rebuke of Trump and his party — a result that JD Vance blamed the Iran war for the Republican midterm defeat. With the new Democratic Congress taking office on January 3, 2027, the politics of foreign aid are about to change anyway.
There is also a wider context. The eight-month war between the US and Iran has dominated the region, and the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran has effectively collapsed in recent weeks.
Can Trump end the aid on his own?
This is the central question, and the honest answer is: probably not — at least, not with a phone call.
US military aid to Israel cannot end with a phone call, because Congress wrote it into law. The $3.8 billion a year is appropriated by Congress each year under the terms of the 2016 memorandum, and only Congress can revoke it. No vote to stop the funding has taken place, and the pending 2027 appropriations bill still contains the money.
The group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) argued in a statement that Congress should strike the funding from the 2027 appropriations bill if the aid is genuinely meant to end.
That does not mean Trump’s announcement is meaningless. A president can shape the debate, refuse to request the funding, or push Congress to act. But until Israel confirms the deal and Congress acts, the $4 billion cutoff remains a presidential statement rather than a settled policy.
What Israel has — and hasn’t — said
Perhaps the most telling detail of all is what has not happened since Trump’s announcement: neither Netanyahu’s office nor Israel’s foreign ministry had publicly confirmed the arrangement in the hours after the interview, according to coverage of the announcement. The US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
That silence matters. If a deal had genuinely been struck months ago, as Trump said, it would be reasonable to expect Jerusalem to confirm it.
What it means for the US-Israel relationship
Whatever happens next, the announcement marks a historic shift in tone. For decades, American military aid to Israel has been one of the least questioned commitments in US foreign policy, supported by presidents of both parties and by large majorities in Congress. Reuters reported that Trump told Fox News the deal was already agreed — a claim that, if true, would make this the most significant change to the relationship since the aid programme began.
If the aid does end, Israel would need to fund more of its defence budget from its own economy — something Netanyahu has said the country, now a wealthy high-tech economy, can increasingly afford. American defence companies would lose a guaranteed customer, though arms sales would continue. And other US allies watching closely would take note: if Washington can rethink its commitment to Israel, it can rethink its commitment to anyone.
If the aid does not end — if Congress keeps appropriating the money and no formal agreement emerges — the episode will still matter. It will have shown that a US president is willing, in public and on Election Day, to treat the aid as negotiable. That alone changes the politics of the relationship, and it gives the new Democratic Congress a powerful talking point when the 2027 budget comes up for debate.
Watch for a formal statement from Netanyahu’s office, the language of the 2027 appropriations bill, and whether the White House publishes anything in writing. Until then, the $4 billion question remains open.
Frequently asked questions
Is the US really ending all military aid to Israel?
Trump says the $4 billion a year in aid will stop by the end of 2026, but no written agreement has been published, Israel has not confirmed the deal, and Congress still has to act. For now, it is an announcement, not a completed policy change.
How much military aid does the US give Israel each year?
About $3.8 billion a year under a 10-year deal signed in 2016 — $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing and $500 million for missile-defence programmes. Trump rounds the figure up to $4 billion.
When does the current aid agreement expire?
The memorandum of understanding runs through September 2028. Ending the payments at the end of 2026 would cut it short by almost two years.
Will Israel still be able to buy American weapons?
Yes. Trump said Israel would still be able to purchase US weapons. The announcement concerns direct aid payments, not arms sales.
The bottom line
Trump ends Israel military aid — or so the president says. The announcement is historic in its tone and its timing, and it fits a president who has never been afraid to question the foreign-policy certainties of the past. But the gap between a phone interview and a policy is wide: the money runs to 2028, Congress controls it, and Israel has not confirmed the deal. What happens next will be decided not on television, but in the quiet work of budgets, bills and diplomacy over the coming weeks.