Netanyahu: Israel seeks to end US military aid within a decade

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he wants to cease Israel’s reliance on U.S. military aid within the next decade.

He spoke during an interview with The Economist that was published on Friday.

“I want to taper off the [U.S.] military aid within the next 10 years,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister said that during his meeting with President Donald Trump in Florida on Dec. 29, he told him that Israel “deeply appreciates” the military aid that “America has given us over the years—but here too, we’ve come of age.”

The Jewish state has “developed incredible capacities. And our economy… will soon reach, certainly within a decade, about $1 trillion. It’s not a huge economy, but it’s not a small economy,” Netanyahu told The Economist.

He clarified that this does not mean that he does not want to fight for the “allegiance and support of the American people—you’d have to be crazy not to,” but added that the plan was already “in the works.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote a post on X, saying that the aid to Israel “has been a great investment” to the benefit of the United States.

“Apparently there is a desire by Israel to change that dynamic because they have a roaring economy,” he added.

“We have no better ally than Israel. Their future is tremendously important to America at many levels. … As Chairman of State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, I will be presenting a proposal to Israel and the Trump Administration to dramatically expedite the timetable,” the senator wrote.

“I will always appreciate allies who are trying to be more self-sufficient and believe that, given what the Prime Minister said, we need not wait ten years. The billions in taxpayer dollars that would be saved by expediting the termination of military aid to Israel will and should be plowed back into the U.S. military, which is the best in the world and in great demand,” Graham said.

For the past 50 years, since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the U.S. has transferred a few billion dollars annually to Israel for defense needs. In the early years, Israel had considerable freedom in how to use these funds. Over the past decade, however, nearly the entire annual sum—now roughly $3.8 billion—has been designated for purchases from the American defense industry.

As global weapons development evolves, Israel’s economy has rapidly strengthened, and criticism within the U.S. of the current aid structure has grown. Against this backdrop, Israeli officials have increasingly been open to rethinking the arrangement.

A source familiar with the discussions told Israel Hayom in November that debates are underway in the Israeli defense and diplomatic establishments regarding what form future American assistance should take.