US President Donald Trump has announced that Washington plans to end its annual $4 billion military assistance to Israel from 2027, arguing that the country no longer needs American financial support. However, the United States will continue selling weapons to its close Middle Eastern ally.

In an interview with Fox News Channel, Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approached him about ending the assistance arrangement. According to Trump, the two leaders had discussed the possibility for the past couple of years.

“Look, we give them $4 billion of things and money, and they don’t need it,” Trump said, defending the proposed change. He suggested that the assistance could be considered either financial support or military supplies, describing the arrangement as a form of barter.

Trump’s announcement comes amid growing political debate in the United States over American military assistance to Israel. He also claimed that some Democratic and left-wing politicians were using US funding to Israel as an issue to criticise Republicans.

The president specifically referred to Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan while discussing the political debate surrounding the assistance.

US military assistance to Israel

The United States has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military assistance over several decades. The proposed change would mark a significant shift in the existing financial assistance arrangement, although continued arms sales would maintain military cooperation between the two countries.

An academic study released in 2025 estimated that the administrations of former President Joe Biden and Trump had provided at least $21.7 billion in military assistance to Israel since the Gaza war began in October 2023.

The research was published on the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks that triggered the war in Gaza.

A separate study by Brown University’s Costs of War project estimated that Washington had spent approximately $10 billion more on security assistance and military operations across the wider Middle East during the preceding two years.

There was no immediate response from Netanyahu’s office to Trump’s latest remarks.

The proposed end to annual assistance after 2026 could reshape the financial structure of the US-Israel military partnership, even as Washington signals its intention to continue arms sales and broader security cooperation.