On the morning of Election Day, Donald Trump went on Fox & Friends to deliver a surprise announcement: The United States, he said, would be cutting off $4 billion in aid to Israel at the end of the year.
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he → go → year
This was a recognition that supporting Israel has become utterly politically toxic, and perhaps a last-minute attempt to grasp for votes in an increasingly anti-Israel Republican party—but, weapons trade experts say, Trump’s announcement doesn’t actually indicate the United States will stop funding Israel’s wars.
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States → support → wars
Instead, it might mean that the flow of US military aid to Israel will continue in a less trackable form.
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flow → mean → form
I have total control,” Trump said on Fox & Friends this morning.
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Trump → have → Fox
“We have a helper, and it’s Israel because, you know, we are the big, they are the small.”
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they → have → helper
He went on to assert that a $4 billion payment to Israel would cease at the end of the year, but—even when pressed repeatedly—did not say whether that meant military aid or cash.
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that → go → aid
And he said that the US would continue selling weapons to Israel.
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US → say → Israel
“[Israel is] fine with it because they’ve become a very successful country,” Trump said.
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Trump → become → it
“They don’t need it.
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They → need → it
And we won’t be paying anymore…we won’t be paying Israel.
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we → pay → Israel
We’ll help Israel if they need it.
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they → help → it
This announcement doesn’t mean the end of US taxpayer dollars financing Israeli wars.
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announcement → mean → wars
“We’re obviously not going to be zeroing out aid,” explained Matt Duss of the Center for International Policy, a former Bernie Sanders aide.
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Duss → go → Policy
“The plan is to rename and reprogram that aid as ‘joint defense partnerships,’ and tuck it into the defense budget.”
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plan → rename → budget
Months ago, Congress was already considering phasing out straightforward financial aid to Israel, and instead reframing American spending on Israel as a legally mandated defense industrial partnership, as Americans sour on directly sending taxpayer dollars to the country.
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Americans → consider → country
A bill currently in the Senate would “establish a cooperative program, with the concurrence of Israel’s Ministry of Defense (MOD), to develop and deploy advanced technologies for countering unmanned systems that threaten the United States and Israel.”
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that → establish → States
Senators will debate the bill after the midterm elections.
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Senators → debate → elections
Trump was likely referring to that repackaging of aid as cooperative weapons development on Fox & Friends, but he didn’t clarify exactly what he meant.
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he → refer → what
“Consider it barter, military aid or cash,” he said.
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he → consider → barter
In the past, joint US-Israeli military ventures have included projects like Israel’s Iron Dome missile shield.
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ventures → include → shield
And in June of this year, negotiations for a new memorandum of understanding on joint weapons development with Israel began, as the present memorandum expires in 2028.
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memorandum → begin → 2028
Amid unprecedented US public opposition to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January suggested Israel should “taper off” direct US military assistance over the following decade.
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Israel → suggest → decade
But in its place, Netanyahu proposed a joint weapons research and development model.
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Netanyahu → propose → model
In the end, Duss said, this setup means “American taxpayers will almost certainly be paying more money, but with even less congressional oversight.”
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taxpayers → say → oversight
So Trump’s announcement is more of a public relations move to provide a rhetorical defense against some Democratic talking points, as opposed to a real policy.
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announcement → provide → points
Trump himself said as much: “The left uses the $4 billion payment that everybody knows about, when it’s no secret, as a, as a signal of unfairness, and we can’t allow that to happen.”
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that → say → unfairness
“What’s notable here is Trump’s acknowledgement that aid to Israel is a politically losing issue,” Duss said.
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Duss → ’ → Israel
“He’s acknowledging that this is dragging the Republicans down.”
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this → acknowledge → Republicans
In the two years after October 7, the US sent at least $21.7 billion in military aid to Israel, according to a paper by William Hartung, research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and the Costs of War Project at Brown University.
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US → send → University
Hartung told Mother Jones that Netanyahu—a staunch ally of Trump’s—might not be thrilled with the timing of this announcement.
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Netanyahu → tell → announcement
“Netanyahu…would not want to do it this quickly,” Hartung said.
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Hartung → want → it
Netanyahu did endorse the idea of transitioning from a direct-aid model to joint weapons development, “but he wanted it phased in by 10 years from now.”
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it → endorse → years
Trump is still bombing Iran as part of a war conducted alongside Israel: As the Wall Street Journal reported, the Pentagon struck Iran’s Qeshm Island Monday.
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Pentagon → bomb → Island
He may also escalate that war after the midterms, though he told Axios Monday he’s in “no rush” to do so.
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he → escalate → rush
But in terms of direct aid to Israel, Hartung said,”[Trump] doesn’t like the Democrats using this as a talking point.
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Democrats → like → point
He’s got this ‘what’s in it for me’ mentality.
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what → get → mentality
That mentality might be why Trump announced the $4 billion aid cutoff Tuesday morning as part of his final election pitch.
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Trump → announce → pitch
“You know, it’s too easy.
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it → know → ?
It’s almost too easy a target,” Trump said, naming Michigan Senatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who has campaigned on ending unconditional military aid to Israel.
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who → ’ → Israel
“Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like El-Sayed when they don’t need it?
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they → suffer → it
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
