US and Israel had agreed to $38 billion in aid through 2028; Trump says support will end this year

In an era when a single word from Donald Trump can rattle global markets, keeping up with the flood of Trump news is no easy task. The Herald Business international desk, on the move from 5 a.m., curates the essential Trump developments — from Wall Street closing figures to market-moving headlines — so you can catch up in just one minute.

US President Donald Trump (right) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [Reuters]
US President Donald Trump (right) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [Reuters]

Donald Trump's announcement that he will cut off military aid to Israel by the end of this year has sent shockwaves through Israeli politics. With the two countries bound by an MOU pledging continued military support through 2028, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the prospect of an early end to that aid hit him "like a bolt from the blue."

Speaking Wednesday (local time) at a meeting with the Yashar party, led by Gadi Eisenkot — a leading candidate for prime minister — Herzog said he was "very concerned about the issue of American aid" and that the news had come to him "like a bolt from the blue," CNN reported.

Herzog said the MOU signed between the United States and Israel obligates Washington to continue military assistance through 2028.

He also said Israel "must form a government and must not repeat elections."

The remark underscored his view that Israel must resolve its political uncertainty quickly to respond to the external challenge posed by a potential US aid cutoff.

Trump made the announcement in a Fox News interview on Tuesday — US midterm election day — saying he would end aid to Israel by the close of this year.

"We give more to Israel than any other country, but they don't need it anymore," Trump said, adding that being asked "'Why don't you give $4 billion to every country?'" made for damaging political attacks. He suggested that the hard-left wing of the Democratic Party had turned aid to Israel into a political liability that hurt the party at the ballot box.

The two countries signed a military assistance MOU in 2016, during the Barack Obama administration, committing the United States to $38 billion in total aid over 10 years covering fiscal years 2019 through 2028. The annual figure of $3.8 billion breaks down into $3.3 billion in military financing for US weapons purchases and $500 million for missile defense cooperation.

If Trump follows through, the MOU-based support would end two years early.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a media interview in January that Israel should gradually reduce its dependence on US military aid over a decade and build up its own independent defense industry instead.

Trump's comment in the same Fox News interview Tuesday — that Netanyahu had "proposed it first" and that the two sides had "agreed after months of discussions" — fits that context.

Netanyahu has not issued a public response to Trump's remarks, CNN reported.

Regarding the matter, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, said he was seeking a clear explanation of how future aid would be handled, and added that he did not believe "support for Israel is a politically harmful factor for conservatives and Republicans."

The announcement came as Israel was struggling to form a new government following its general election.

After two days of consultations with parties that won seats in the new parliament, Herzog said Eisenkot had received recommendations from lawmakers holding 67 of the Knesset's 120 seats to serve as prime minister.

Even so, securing a majority of recommendations does not guarantee that Eisenkot will be able to form a stable coalition government.

Of the 67 seats backing him, 19 belong to Arab parties. Whether a recommendation translates into actual coalition participation or legislative support is a separate question, making cooperation with those parties the central challenge in government formation.

Herzog is set to decide Sunday on whom to task with forming the next government.


mokiya@heraldcorp.com