The shift: Trump says he’s ending aid to Israel. That’s not true.
Michael Arria writes in Mondoweiss on 5 November 2026 :
On the morning of Tuesday’s election, Donald Trump made a big announcement on a phone call with Fox News. The President claimed that the U.S. government would stop sending Israel military aid at the end of the year. “They’re fine with it because they’ve become a very successful country,” Trump said. “They don’t need it. And we won’t be paying anymore.”
There are caveats here, as with most of Trump’s statements. Israeli officials seemed completely shocked by the declaration, and Congress has already appropriated billions in weapons through 2028.
However, Trump’s overall plan is not surprising, as the Israel Lobby and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have spent months pushing for a new arrangement. In fact, an end to military aid was one of the last issues that Lindsey Graham advocated for before his death.
The logic from the pro-Israel camp is pretty straightforward. Most Americans now have a negative view of Israel, and they don’t like the fact that their tax dollars are used to buy the country’s weapons. The choice to sell Israel weapons, as opposed to just gifting them, also allows lawmakers to frame the recalibration as a win for U.S. workers.
In his remarks to Fox, Trump acknowledged that the move was partially PR-related, citing the criticisms that Israel has faced from people like Abdul El-Sayed, who was elected Michigan’s next Senator this week.
“Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like El-Sayed when they don’t need it?” Trump asked. “It’s a bad talking point.”
The next part of this plan is a deeper integration between the U.S. and Israeli militaries, which is why the issue is being pushed in the next National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).