CALGARY — US President Donald Trump says he has reached an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop sending US$4 billion a year in foreign aid to Israel.“We were giving them $4 billion, but it gets cut off at the end of the year,” Trump said in a Tuesday phone interview on Fox & Friends.“Israel is a very thriving country. They don't need it. If they did need it, I would say keep it going. But Bibi Netanyahu, we reached an agreement on that. And can I be honest with you? He brought it up.”Trump’s comments come as Americans go to the polls for the US midterm elections..US aid to Israel and Israel’s war in Gaza have been among the most contentious issues of the midterm campaign, with support for Israel at historic lows.An October Politico poll found that only one in five respondents said Israel’s military campaign in Gaza was justified, while 48% said the campaign had either never been justified or had initially been justified but later went too far.In July, the US House of Representatives defeated an amendment to cut off aid to Israel by a vote of 314 to 104, although nearly half of the Democrats who voted supported the amendment.Trump said that Israel was fine with an end to US aid but added that “we’ll help Israel if they need it. Israel's been a great ally, much more reliable than most.”.Asked whether he meant military funding or another form of aid, Trump replied, “In any way you want to define it. You can consider it barter, you can consider it military aid or cash.”A memorandum of understanding that provides for $3.8 billion in annual US military aid to Israel is set to expire in 2028, and discussions about how Washington’s assistance to Israel might change after that are already underway.Netanyahu said in January that he hoped to “taper off” US military aid over the next decade.Trump appeared to acknowledge the political significance of the decision ahead of the midterms, saying the Democrats use “the $4 billion payment that everybody knows about, when it’s no secret as a signal of unfairness, and we can’t allow that to happen.”“[Netanyahu] said, I think it would be appropriate if we do not receive aid, because he understands that this is one of their points of contention,” Trump stated.“We’ve agreed. He was very understanding of it.”.Reacting to the news, former Republican congresswoman and Trump opponent Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “Amazing how being on the verge of Republicans getting wiped out in the midterms changes hearts and minds.”“Reality is, Israel is financially rich with state funded healthcare and college while Americans are financially suffering with a $40 trillion dollar national debt,” Greene added.“Trump getting permission from Netanyahu to end annual aid to Israel isn’t going to change today’s election results. Nor is it going to end the war with Iran or stop Israel from murdering innocent Palestinians. But it does show you how bad the polling is on that issue.”
