President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, that the United States will stop providing about $4 billion in annual funding to Israel by the end of this year, announcing on Election Day what he described as a deal reached months ago with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Speaking in an interview on Fox News' "Fox and Friends," Trump said Israel no longer needs the money, while adding that Washington would still help Israel if it needed it.
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"Now, as far as paying Israel, Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal that we give Israel $4 billion a year, and we made a deal months ago that we're stopping," Trump said, according to Reuters. "We've already agreed that by the end of this year we won't be paying Israel. Now we'll help Israel if they need it."
Trump went further in describing Israel's place among recipients of American assistance. "Israel's our number one (recipient); we give them more than anybody else. And they no longer need it," he said during the interview, according to USA Today. "We've been doing it for years. Israel is a very thriving country. They don't need it."
The announcement landed on one of the most consequential days of the American political calendar. Voters across the United States were casting ballots in midterm elections that will decide control of Congress for the final two years of Trump's second term, with all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 36 governorships at stake.
What Trump Announced
Trump's remarks were brief but unambiguous in their headline claim: the annual payment ends this year. He framed the decision as a mutual agreement rather than a unilateral American cutoff, saying repeatedly that he and Netanyahu had settled the matter months before he spoke about it publicly.
"We were giving them 4 billion, we are, but it gets cut off at the end of the year," Trump said, according to Reuters. "Why? Because they don't need it."
He also offered a political reason for making the announcement now. Trump said some Democrats and left-wing politicians were using American financial support for Israel as a talking point to criticize Republicans, according to Reuters, tying the foreign policy announcement directly to the domestic fight unfolding on Election Day.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu's office on Trump's remarks, Reuters reported. That silence leaves an important gap in the story: the announcement, so far, rests on Trump's account of an agreement he says was made months ago, without a parallel public confirmation from Jerusalem.
The Deal Trump Described
According to Trump, the arrangement is not new at all. He said the deal was struck months ago and is only now being described publicly, with the cutoff taking effect when the calendar turns. He did not, in the remarks reported by Reuters, name a specific program, a date for a final payment, or any legislation or executive action that would carry the decision out.
That framing matters because it presents the change as orderly and agreed rather than abrupt. Trump paired the cutoff with a reassurance: "Now we'll help Israel if they need it." The sentence suggests continued American backing in a crisis, even as the routine annual payment comes to an end.
The $3.8 Billion Question
Here is where the story gets complicated, and where reporting so far urges caution. Reuters noted that it was not immediately clear which exact funding Trump meant. A memorandum of understanding between the two countries provides $3.8 billion in annual US military aid to Israel, and that agreement is approaching its expiration date in 2028, not at the end of 2026. Conversations have been under way about how Washington's assistance to Israel would evolve beyond that date, according to Reuters.
The gap between Trump's "end of this year" language and the 2028 expiration of the memorandum is the central unanswered question of the announcement. It is possible Trump was referring to a different funding stream, or to an understanding that the existing arrangement will be wound down early, or to a political agreement whose details have not yet been published. None of that is clear from the interview remarks reported so far, and this article does not assume an answer.
What is on the public record is that Netanyahu himself has previously raised the idea of Israel moving away from American aid. In a May interview with CBS, Netanyahu said he hoped to wean Israel off US military support within a decade. In a June letter to a US congressman, he wrote that the time had come for Israel "to move from aid recipient to partner," according to Reuters. Those earlier remarks do not confirm the specific deal Trump described, but they show the direction of travel was already part of the conversation between the two leaders.
Why Now: Midterms and the Politics of Aid
The timing of the announcement is impossible to ignore. Trump spoke on the morning of Election Day, as voters were deciding whether Republicans would keep their slim majorities in the House and Senate or whether Democrats would win enough seats to block the president's agenda.
US aid to Israel amid the war in Gaza has been one of the most contentious issues leading up to the midterm elections, according to USA Today. The issue has divided both parties' coalitions in different ways, and Trump's critics and supporters alike have used it to make broader arguments about American priorities abroad.
By presenting the cutoff as something Netanyahu himself agreed to, Trump appeared to be defusing a line of attack while also claiming credit for saving American taxpayers billions of dollars a year. His argument that Democrats were using the aid as a talking point against Republicans suggests he sees the announcement as much as a domestic political move as a foreign policy one.
At the same time, the announcement arrives as questions about the cost and direction of American policy in the Middle East have been central to the midterm campaign. Ending a multibillion-dollar annual payment to Israel would be one of the most concrete changes to that policy in years, if it is carried out as Trump described.
What This Means
If the cutoff happens as Trump described, it would mark a historic shift in one of the longest-running American foreign aid relationships. Israel has for decades been the largest recipient of US foreign assistance, and the annual military aid package has been a cornerstone of the security partnership between the two countries.
For Israel, the practical effect depends entirely on which funding is actually cut and on what timetable. A cutoff at the end of 2026 would be far more disruptive than a phasedown toward the memorandum's 2028 expiration.
For American politics, the announcement gives both parties something to argue about in the campaign's final hours. Supporters of the president can present it as evidence that he puts American taxpayers first even with America's closest allies. Critics are likely to ask why such a major change to a decades-old partnership was announced in a morning television interview, without a published agreement or a statement from the Israeli government.
What Happens Next
Several things need to happen before this announcement becomes settled policy. Netanyahu's office or the Israeli government will need to confirm, clarify or dispute Trump's account of the deal. The White House or the State Department will need to say precisely which funding stream is affected and how the cutoff will be carried out. Congress, which appropriates foreign aid, will also have a say, particularly if the change requires legislation or a revision of the existing memorandum.
The midterm results themselves will shape that debate. A Congress controlled by the president's party would be more likely to go along with his plan; a Congress controlled by Democrats would be more likely to question it or try to preserve the existing aid arrangement.
For now, what is certain is what Trump said on Tuesday morning: that he and Netanyahu made a deal months ago, that the $4 billion annual payment stops at the end of this year, and that America will still help Israel if it needs it. What remains uncertain is everything around those words, and the coming days will determine whether this was the announcement of a done deal or the opening move in a negotiation still to come.
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