Netanyahu spins Trump's aid cut as shift from US military support to 'partnership'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday sought to present the proposed end of US military aid as a shift towards a more equal relationship between the two countries, saying Israel's growing economic strength would allow it to move from receiving assistance to building a partnership with Washington.Netanyahu said the decision, agreed upon with US President Donald Trump, reflected the strength of ties between the two allies and their ability to adapt to changing circumstances.“US military aid to Israel has always been a cross-the-aisle agreement,” Netanyahu wrote on X, adding that the assistance had helped Israel defend itself and confront threats to both Israel and the United States and the wider West.However, the announcement has triggered concern within Israel, with President Isaac Herzog saying Trump's decision to end the annual assistance came as an unexpected development. He described it as “like a bolt from the blue”, pointing out that the existing agreement between the two countries was supposed to remain in place until 2028.Herzog raises concerns Herzog discussed the issue during a meeting with the Yashar party, led by Gadi Eisenkot, a prominent challenger to Netanyahu.“The issue of the American aid worries me greatly, and it also fell on me like a bolt from the blue. We have an (memorandum of understanding) with the US that is supposed to last until 2028 and this is one of the major goals, and therefore a government must be formed and not go to repeated elections,” Herzog said.Trump announced on Tuesday, as Americans voted in the midterm elections, that he had reached an agreement with Netanyahu to end the roughly $4 billion in annual US military assistance to Israel after this year. He indicated, however, that Washington would continue selling weapons to the country.The announcement marks a departure from the existing US-Israel memorandum of understanding, under which Washington has committed to providing Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military assistance until September 2028. Trump did not explain how the funding would be discontinued before the agreement's scheduled expiry.The US President also appeared to acknowledge that continued military assistance to Israel had become a political challenge for Republicans. He said ending the aid would remove a "bad talking point" that left-wing Democrats had used to criticise his party over its support for Israel.Republican divisions emerge The decision has also exposed differences within the Republican Party over the political and financial costs of Washington's close relationship with Israel.US Vice President JD Vance had said on X that the relationship with Israel had contributed to Republican losses in the midterm elections.US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, meanwhile, said he was seeking clarification on how Trump's proposed decision would be implemented. In an interview with Israel's Channel 12 News, he defended continued military assistance and rejected the suggestion that backing Israel had become politically damaging among Republicans.“Americans need to know the value of the relationship,” he said. “It’s not about what Americans are putting into it. It’s about what they are getting out of it. Maybe we haven’t done a good job helping the American public to recognize and be grateful for the partnership with Israel, which has benefited their lives every day.”Disagreeing with Vance's assessment, Huckabee added, “I don’t think support for Israel is toxic in the conservative wing and the Republican Party.”US aid to Israel faces growing political oppositionAmerican military assistance to Israel, which has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan backing in Washington, has increasingly come under criticism from both Democratic and Republican circles.Analysts have suggested that Trump's announcement on the day of the midterm elections was partly aimed at addressing voter dissatisfaction over US support for Israel.Talks about gradually reducing American military assistance after 2028 were already underway, with Netanyahu previously indicating that he expected the funding to be phased out over time. Trump's announcement, however, suggests that Washington intends to bring forward that transition.The development comes as the US and Israel remain engaged in a conflict with Iran, more than eight months after the two allies launched joint attacks against the Islamic Republic.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.