Trump's 'Cut' to Israel Aid Is Really a Plan to Move It Into the Pentagon Budget
After the president said on Election Day he was cutting $4 billion, analysts say the money is being repackaged under the defense bill, with less congressional oversight.
When President Trump told Fox News on Election Day that he is cutting $4 billion in U.S. aid to Israel, many Israelis panicked. Israel has been one of the largest recipients of American military aid for decades. "When a president says something like that, it's a slap in the face," said Yair Wairauch, a 36-year-old clinical psychologist in Jerusalem. Israeli media said the announcement also caught the country's defense and finance ministries by surprise.
Opponents of U.S. military aid to Israel cheered. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic senator-elect from Michigan, who accuses Israel of genocide and apartheid, charges Israel denies, told NPR he thinks the president is "actually right on this policy." But defense experts and former officials say the aid is not going away. It is changing shape.
The shift has been in the works for months. Last May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told 60 Minutes, "I want to draw down to zero the American financial support, the financial component of the military cooperation we have, because we receive $3.8 billion a year. I think it's time we weaned ourselves." The current 10-year memorandum of understanding, signed under President Obama, was already due to expire in 2028.
Avishay Ben-Sasson-Gordis, head of U.S.-Israel research at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said Netanyahu may have wanted to get ahead of trouble renewing the package, given growing criticism of Israel amid the wars in Iran and Gaza. Giving the aid up voluntarily, he said, beats being told Israel cannot have it. "The way Israel defines it, we're going from aid to partnership," he said.
U.S. and Israeli officials have been negotiating a plan to move the funding from the State Department to the Pentagon. It would fold parts of the two countries' defense industries together and open new joint projects. "It doesn't mean the U.S. is going to stop funding things," said Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group. "It's just going to be repackaged, reframed, and possibly not include the same kind of congressional oversight."
The framework is written into the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2027, which would make the financial relationship part of Pentagon procurement. Joint projects would include missile defense, cybersecurity, biotechnology and drones. The pro-Israel lobby AIPAC supports the plan and says it includes a $50 million increase over fiscal 2026. Amnesty International calls it a "troubling proposal" that could expand U.S. legal liability for possible violations of international law by Israel's military, and dozens of advocacy groups urged Congress in September to scrap it.
Critics say the Pentagon route means less scrutiny and transparency just as American voters are looking harder at Israel. Polls show U.S. favorability toward Israel at a record low, and Vice President JD Vance cited the relationship as one reason Republicans lost the midterms. Annelle Sheline, a former State Department official now at the Quincy Institute, said the change would help protect the money from falling public support and "would also likely allow it to increase significantly."
In the House version of the NDAA, Section 219 directs the defense secretary to name an "executive agent" inside the Pentagon to synchronize cooperation between the two militaries. Last summer, Congress blocked a bipartisan amendment by Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., aimed at that section.
The House passed its version in July. The Senate has not passed its own, and the two must be reconciled before a government funding deadline on Dec. 11. That means the outgoing lame-duck Congress, not the newly elected members, who include more critics of Israel, may make the final call.
