Trump says U.S. cutting off $4B in aid to Israel at end of year

Nov. 3 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States will cut off aid to Israel at the end of the year, saying that the country no longer needs it.

“We were giving them $4 billion — we are — but it gets cut off at the end of the year,” Trump said to Fox News. The president said the aid included “things and money.”

Trump said that he and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu had “reached an agreement” and that Netanyahu had first raised the idea.

“They don’t need it,” Trump said. “Israel’s our number one. We give them more than anybody else, and they no longer need it. Israel is a very thriving country.”

The United States gives Israel $13.8 billion of military aid each year through an agreement set to last through 2028. Much of that money goes back to U.S. weapons manufacturers, and Trump said Tuesday that Israel can still buy American weapons.

“They can buy whatever they want,” he said.

The president made his comments early on Election Day in the United States and tied the announcement to politics more explicitly as well. He said U.S. aid to Israel is a “bad talking point.”

“Why should we suffer the slings” from candidates such as Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, when Israel doesn’t need aid, Trump said. However, he also said that if Israel did need the aid, it would continue.

Trump made the announcement a week after Israel’s elections, in which Netanyahu lost his majority in the government — although his main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the opposition Yashar party, also does not have a majority.

The Israeli president has said the election was “stolen” by Arab parties in the country. Netanyahu’s Likud party and its allies have 53 seats in the government, and Eisenkot’s Yashar party and its allies have 48, with 61needed for a majority.

Arab parties representing Israel’s Palestinian population won 19 seats. In recent days, thousands of people have rallied in Jerusalem demanding a Jewish-Arab government partnership.