Trump Says U.S. Aid to Israel Will End by 2026

President Donald Trump said the United States and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to end annual U.S. military aid to Israel by the end of 2026, while leaving weapons sales and possible future assistance in place. The announcement was based on Trump’s account of the agreement; Israeli officials had not publicly confirmed it by the time of the reports. Trump made the statement in a Fox News phone interview on November 3, Election Day for the U.S. midterm elections. He said Israel no longer needed the funding and described the decision as one made with Netanyahu months earlier. Trump also linked the aid to domestic political debate, citing Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and saying the payments had become a talking point for critics. The amount Trump referred to is about $3.8 billion a year under a 2016 U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding. It provides $3.3 billion in foreign military financing and $500 million for missile defense, and runs through September 2028. Trump said the United States would continue selling weapons to Israel and would help if the country needed assistance. The announcement did not explain how a cutoff before the agreement...