Trump Scrambles to Halt Military Aid to Israel to Deprive El-Sayed of a Talking Point

The United States will stop providing $4 billion in annual aid to Israel starting next year, President Donald Trump claimed in an Election Day interview. While the U.S. will continue to sell arms to its closest Middle East ally, Trump’s announcement — should it actually hold true — could represent a seismic shift in American foreign policy. He did not state specifically why he waited to announce the decision in the midst of a midterm vote in which his party is expected to lose its lock on Congress , but noted that U.S. aid to Israel has become a Democratic talking point, singling out Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. “The left uses the $4 billion payment — that everybody knows about, it’s no secret — as a signal of unfairness,” said Trump. October 2026 polling from the Institute for Middle East Understanding’s D.C.-based IMEU Policy Project and YouGov found a majority of voters in six key swing states — Georgia, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas — support halting the transfer of bombs to Israel. “You can consider it barter. And 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.” Experts cautioned not to take Trump at his word, especially as his administration pushes a pending $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act that would embed Israeli technology within the Pentagon’s programs and supply chain . “President Trump is a serial liar who has announced over $20 billion in weapons giveaways to Israel since taking office and launched a war at Israel’s request that has already cost every U.S. household over $2,000 — the equivalent of $262 billion,” said Hamid Bendaas, IMEU Policy Project’s communications director. “He and other politicians realize our taxpayer funding for Israel is a liability. That’s why he and his allies in Congress are at this very moment trying to advance legislation to conceal support for Israel by integrating Israeli weapons companies into the Pentagon. This is a bait and switch that would result in Americans funding Israeli weapons makers in record amounts.” “This is a bait and switch that would result in Americans funding Israeli weapons makers in record amounts.” Others expressed skepticism about Trump‘s claim of an immediate end of annual aid in 2027. “It’s not plausible there will be a total cut-off starting January 1,” said Josh Paul, who spent more than 11 years as the director of congressional and public affairs at the State Department bureau that oversees arms transfers to foreign nations before resigning in 2023 over U.S. military assistance to Israel, noting that funding is baked into existing and pending legislation. “My guess is that he was speaking off the cuff with the next 10-year memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Israel in mind, but did so in a way that is at best inaccurate or imprecise.” A decade ago, President Barack Obama signed an unprecedented MOU with Israel to give its military $38 billion between 2019 and 2028, amounting to almost $4 billion a year. By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use . Trump’s announcement did not address the proposal in the National Defense Authorization Act, which would inextricably link the U.S. armed forces and the Israeli military, giving Israel leverage over the Pentagon. “Initial reporting on Trump’s statement omits a crucial fact: that the National Defense Authorization Act contains a provision intended to protect U.S. tax dollars flowing to Israel from the massive shift in U.S. public opinion against funding Israeli aggression,” Annelle Sheline, who served as a foreign affairs officer in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, told The Intercept. “The provision would move U.S. funding out of security assistance under the purview of the State Department — which carries legal provisions like the Leahy Laws, transparency requirements, and an annual congressional vote — into the Pentagon procurement process, which has none of these.” Sheline added, “Insulated from public opinion and away from public visibility, U.S. funding to Israel is likely to grow exponentially.” With his popularity in free fall in the U.S., Trump teased the possibility of decamping for Israel and taking Netanyahu’s job as the Israeli prime minister battles for his political life after an inconclusive election last week. “In fact, if people ever got tired of me in the U.S., I’ll move to Israel, become prime minister,” Trump declared during his Fox appearance. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse.