U.S. to End 5-Trillion-Won Military Aid to Israel This Year, Amid Opposition Criticism

[Financial News] U.S. President Donald Trump, who has attacked Iran alongside Israel since last year, said the United States would end this year the military aid it has provided to Israel since 2018.
In an interview with Fox News on the 3rd (local time), Trump said, “We are giving Israel $4 billion, but that will end at the end of the year.” He said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had first proposed ending the aid, and that they had decided to do so after months of discussions.
The United States had previously agreed in a memorandum of understanding signed with Israel in 2016, during the administration of Democrat Barack Obama, to provide a total of $38 billion in military aid over 10 years, from 2018 to 2028. Under the agreement, the United States provides Israel with $3.8 billion a year (about 5.1121 trillion won). Of this, $3.3 billion is military aid for purchases of U.S.-made weapons and other items, while the remaining $500 million is allocated to support missile defense systems. The two countries’ memorandum of understanding is set to end two years early under the new agreement.
Trump criticized the Democrats while ending the military aid. He said the Democrats were using the aid as a pretext to attack him and that he would no longer put up with it. Trump’s Republican Party is expected to lose at least its majority in the House in the midterm elections on the 3rd.
On the 3rd, Trump explained, “Israel has become a very prosperous country and no longer needs that money.” Referring to Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan in the midterm elections, he asked, “Why should we have to put up with criticism from a lunatic like El-Sayed?” Trump claimed, “The left is exploiting the $4 billion in aid—which is no secret—as a symbol of unfairness,” adding, “We can’t allow that to happen.”

Meanwhile, in remarks that day, Trump said the United States could provide assistance if Israel needed help in the future, and that Israel could continue buying U.S.-made weapons.

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