U.S. military aid to Israel won't end this year: new deal would cut it in half over five years, then end it, while missile-defense money goes up

U.S. military aid to Israel will not stop at the end of this year after all. Under the new security agreement now being negotiated, direct aid would be cut roughly in half and then phased out, Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth reported early Monday.

Last week President Trump said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to end U.S. military aid by the end of 2026. "We were giving them $4 billion. We are, but it gets cut off at the end of the year," he told Fox News on Election Day. According to Ynet, Israeli negotiators were caught off guard by that announcement.

What is taking shape instead: the current 10-year agreement stays in force through 2028. After that, Israel would get about the same yearly amount, $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing, for five years instead of ten, roughly $16.5 billion in total, and then direct military aid would end. At the same time, U.S. funding for joint missile-defense work on Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow, now $500 million a year, is expected to go up as the drone and missile threat grows. The exact amount has not been set.

Teams working for Secretary of State Marco Rubio and for Israel's Defense Ministry and embassy in Washington are negotiating the deal. Both sides aim to finish it before the end of the year, while the current Congress is still in office. "We are moving here from a model of aid to a model of partnership," a senior Israeli official told Ynet.

The memorandum itself does not need Senate approval, but Congress still has to fund the aid every year. Israeli officials worry the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress could hold up or delay the money.