President Trump has confirmed that the US will end $4billion (around £2.9bn) in aid to Israel, claiming that this had been agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking to Fox & Friends on the morning of the midterm elections, in which US-Israel relations and the Iran War have been hot political issues, the president claimed that his Israeli counterpart had actually suggested scrapping the payments.
“Can I be honest with you? He brought it up. He brought it up,” he said.
“[He said] ‘I think it would be appropriate if we do not receive aid’…
“Now, as far as paying Israel, 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.
“We won’t be paying Israel anymore; by the end of this year we won’t be paying Israel.
"Now we’ll help Israel if they need it. You know they’ve been a great ally.”
Asked to clarify whether the figure he provided meant an end to cash payments or weapons exports, Trump went on: “I’m giving four in any way you want to define it. You can consider it barter. You can consider military aid or cash.
“What we give them, $4 billion of things and money, and they don’t need it.”
And pressed on the focus on Israel during the midterm campaigns, he added: “The Left uses the $4 billion payment that everybody knows about, it’s no secret, as a signal of unfairness, and we can’t allow that to happen.
“I don’t like that because, you know, it’s too easy. It’s almost too easy a target.
“And Bibi and I have been talking, and we’ve agreed. He was very understanding of it.”
Netanyahu has previously spoken about weaning Israel off its reliance on US military aid, arguing that it needs to become self-sufficient in its national security policy.
Last month, he said it was “only a matter of time” until aid payments drastically reduce “because America has changed”.
“I want to taper off the military within the next 10 years,” he said in an interview with the Economist in January.
“The military aid that America has given us over the years, but here too we've come of age, and we've developed incredible capacities.”
Elsewhere in his interview on Tuesday, though, Trump reinforced the strength of the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem, saying: “The military aid that America has given us over the years, but here too we've come of age and we've developed incredible capacities.
“We have a tremendous fighting force to keep the Middle East. Like, look at the Middle East. I have total control. We do it. We have a helper, and it’s Israel because, you know, we are the big, they are the small.”
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