Trump says US military aid to Israel will be cut off at the end of the year

US President Donald Trump has said American military aid to Israel will end at the end of this year. This report draws on NBC News, ABC News (US) and the Guardian. ## What Trump said In a phone interview with Fox News on election day morning, Trump said he and Netanyahu had "made a deal months ago that we're stopping", and that the money would get "cut off at the end of the year", NBC News and ABC News report. He said Israel no longer needed the aid and claimed Netanyahu "brought it up". He did not specify which forms of aid would end or how, ABC News reports, and Netanyahu's office declined to comment, according to NBC News. Trump linked the decision to the midterm campaign, in which US support for Israel has been a contested issue. "Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an El-Sayed when they don't need it?" he said, referring to Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, NBC News and ABC News report. ## The current agreement Under a 2016 memorandum of understanding, the US gives Israel US$3.8 billion a year, made up of US$3.3 billion in foreign military financing and US$500 million for missile defence, until 2028, NBC News, ABC News and the Guardian report. ABC News reports that Congress effectively wrote those funding levels into law in its defence authorisation act for the 2021 financial year, and that two sources at Israel's Finance Ministry expressed surprise at Trump's comments. Netanyahu had previously suggested tapering off US aid over the next decade, NBC News and the Guardian report. ## Reaction in Israel Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, who is seeking to replace Netanyahu after last week's election, said the fact that "the security establishment, along with Israeli citizens, is learning about a change in the strategic relationship framework through the media highlights just how much Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct poses a genuine danger", ABC News and the Guardian report.