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By Michael Arria / Mondoweiss
In an interview with The Economist, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he would like to end the country’s financial reliance on the U.S. government.
“I want to taper off the military aid within the next 10 years,” declared Netanyahu. When asked if he wanted to eventually get that number down to zero, he said yes.
Netanyahu also told the magazine that Israel has developed “incredible capacity” as an economy, thus enabling the country to recalibrate its relationship with the United States.
The Prime Minister stressed that he wanted to maintain Israel’s connection to the United States, despite the shift.
“[This is not to say] that I don’t want to fight for the allegiance and support of the American people,” he explained. “I do. You’d have to be crazy not to.”
Israel currently receives more than $3.8 billion annually from the U.S. government, mostly in the form of weapons. The aid package, which was negotiated by the Obama administration in 2016, is set to expire in 2028.
In comments to Jewish Insider, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), an ardent supporter of Israel, said that he would help wean Israel off U.S. aid.
“From my point of view as an American, now that this decision has been made, I don’t think we need to wait 10 years,” claimed Graham. “I’m going to work on expediting the wind down of the aid and recommend we plow the money back into our own military.”
“President Trump’s budget request of $1.5 trillion for [the] Department of War is a major increase, and every dollar we can recoup, from efficiency or allies who don’t need the money anymore, is welcome to go into building up our military,” he continued. “Israel’s a great friend and a marvelous military, but we’re the only superpower in the world. America and the demands on us are at an all-time high because of the threats. The American military is the best in the world and in great demand. So what I think is best for America, now that Israel has made this decision, is to expedite this money, plowing it back into our own military needs.”
Graham, who is the Chairman of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, says he will present a proposal to Netanyahu’s government and the Trump Administration that “dramatically expedite the timetable” on tapering aid.
This Israeli intention to wean itself off U.S. aid is a sharp departure from what Netanyahu was reportedly requesting just two months ago.
In November 2025, Axios reported that Israel was seeking a 20-year military aid deal with the U.S., and had added “America First tweaks” to the proposal in order to appeal to the Trump administration.
“This is out-of-the-box thinking. We want to change the way we handled past agreements and put more emphasis on U.S.-Israel cooperation. The Americans like this idea,” one Israeli official told the website.
Responding to the interview with The Economist, Annelle Sheline, a Ph.D research fellow in the Quincy Institute’s Middle East program, told Mondoweiss that Israel and its allies are attempting to maintain support for the country amid a U.S. population that views the relationship with increasing skepticism.
“Although neither Biden nor Trump have allowed U.S. legislation like the Leahy Laws to impede the bonanza of weapons they have provided to Israel, Netanyahu and allies are likely aware that a future administration could uphold such laws, whereas if Israel transitions to buying U.S. weapons outright, there would be fewer potential restrictions,” said Sheline.
“The Leahy Laws, for example, apply to security assistance but not to weapons sales,” she continued. “Again, neither this nor the previous administration has used these restrictions, but given where public opinion is heading, it is not surprising that Netanyahu would want to avoid a future scenario where weapons transfers are blocked because the U.S. government finally decided to uphold American law.”
Khaled Elgindy, former director of Middle East Institute’s Program on Palestine and Israeli-Palestinian Affairs and author of Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump, said that Netanyhu’s announcement can be seen as a political move.
“Seeing the writing on the wall, Netanyahu may be trying to get out ahead of the issue—to ensure aid is phased out on terms favorable to Israel,” said Elgindy.
“We could also see push-back from Congress members—especially on Graham’s initiative, since military aid to Israel isn’t just about Israeli security or the U.S. public mood,” he reasoned. “It is also a major cash cow on which current and aspiring congressional campaigns rely, which is also a major source of AIPAC’s (and that of other segments of the pro-Israel lobby) political power.”
Netanyahu’s announcement has faced criticism in Israel.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said he believed Netanyahu had “erred professionally” in making the comments.
“This is not a reason to abandon such important security cooperation,” Lapid told KAN News. It will increase the tax burden on Israel, and it will bring us down from being at a military-technological global high point. It will weaken the Israeli-American lobby, which is already weakened,” Lapid said.
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Michael Arria
Michael Arria is the U.S. correspondent for Mondoweiss. His work has appeared in In These Times, The Appeal, and Truthout. He is the author of Medium Blue: The Politics of MSNBC. Follow him on Twitter at @michaelarria.