Trump’s $4 billion Israel aid decision has one major catch

As President Donald Trump has announced recently, the U.S. is no longer going to send approximately $4 billion in annual aid to Israel. Due to a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the United States has been sending aid to Israel since 2019 and was supposed to do that till 2028.

But now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump have reached an agreement to stop sending annual aid to Israel by the end of 2026. However, there's a catch: Israel can still purchase U.S. weapons.

President Donald Trump is stopping annual aid to Israel but not stopping them from purchasing weapons

Under a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) running from fiscal year 2019 through 2028, the U.S. has provided Israel with approximately $4 billion annually. That has included foreign military financing grants and joint missile defense programs like the Iron Dome and Arrow.

However, President Trump recently said to Fox & Friends on the morning of November 3, 2026, that aid will stop. The president said:

"We were giving them $4 billion – we are – but it gets cut off at the end of the year."

He added:

"They don’t need it, Israel's our number one. We give them more than anybody else, and they no longer need it... Israel is a very thriving country."

Elaborating on the aid, the president said that the aid could be defined in any way, whether as barter, military aid, or cash. He added that the US provided Israel with approximately $4 billion worth of goods and money that they now do not need.

While the annual aid will stop by the end of 2026, Trump explicitly noted that Israel can still purchase U.S. weapons. He said:

"They can buy whatever they want."

Thus, Israel can continue to purchase whatever U.S. weapons they want with their own funds. Furthermore, in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), lawmakers introduced Section 219, known as the "United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative".

That section will turn traditional aid into joint defense tech and Pentagon co-production partnerships between the United States and Israel. That, in turn, will allow both countries to effectively maintain their strategic relationship while not directly spending a huge amount of money in foreign aid.

Trump also revealed that it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who brought up the fact that Israel doesn't need the aid any longer. He said:

"I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money... He brought it up. He said, ‘I think it would be appropriate if we do not receive aid.’"

The president also acknowledged that the annual aid has become a topic of political discussion due to the Israel-Gaza conflict. Moreover, the president said that Prime Minister Netanyahu has understood the following:

"this is one of their points of contention."

Thus, the annual aid will be stopped by the end of 2026, but Israel will still be able to purchase any kind of U.S. weapons they want.

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