US will not fund Israel’s arms purchases:Trump says Israel no longer needs it; opponents questioned wasteful spending in campaign

From 2027, the United States will stop providing Israel with $4 billion (about ₹38,000 crore) in military aid annually. President Trump made the announcement on Tuesday. Israel will now have to buy weapons with its own money instead of using US aid to purchase them. Speaking by phone to Fox News, Trump said Israel no longer needed the aid. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had himself proposed the move, and the two countries had been discussing it for the past two years. Democratic Party leaders had targeted Trump, calling the US aid to Israel wasteful spending. Trump says spending such a large amount is not justified According to President Trump, it is not justified for the United States to spend such a large amount every year. Referring to Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is contesting the Senate election from Michigan, he said that candidates such as him were raising questions about the aid. El-Sayed has opposed supplying weapons to Israel with US aid. He says the US should spend money on building schools, hospitals and roads for its own citizens instead of funding the armed forces of other countries. He has made it clear that this policy applies not only to Israel, but also to countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. US provided ₹2 lakh crore in military aid after Gaza war The US has been giving Israel money for years to buy weapons and strengthen its military. After the war began in Gaza, the US provided Israel with even more military aid. According to a study released last year, the US provided Israel with at least $21.7 billion (around ₹2 lakh crore) in military aid since the Gaza war began in October 2023. This includes aid provided during the presidencies of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The study was released on 7 October 2025, the second anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel. The war in Gaza began after this attack by Hamas. US spent ₹95,000 crore more in the Middle East According to a second study by Brown University, the US spent around ₹95,000 crore more on security and military activities in the Middle East over the past two years. This includes aid provided to other countries for security and expenditure on US military operations. The two studies compiled data from government and other public reports. According to them, after the Gaza war began, the US spent large sums not only supplying weapons to Israel but also on its military operations in the Middle East. US and Israel had reached a 10-year agreement The United States and Israel signed a 10-year military aid agreement in 2016. Under the agreement, the US promised to provide Israel around ₹3.6 lakh crore from 2019 to 2028. Of this, around ₹31,000 crore was provided each year to purchase weapons and military equipment. The remaining funds were earmarked for systems designed to protect against missile attacks. This meant that, with US assistance, Israel not only equipped its military with modern weapons but also strengthened its ability to defend against missiles.