Netanyahu: US military aid to Israel to be phased out

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Wednesday that US military aid to Israel would be gradually phased out.

A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office said he had declared in 1996 that Israel would gradually stop receiving US financial aid, which amounted to $1.3 billion, and had fulfilled that pledge.

“Thirty years later, Netanyahu has declared that Israel’s economy is strong enough to gradually stop receiving US military aid as well,” the statement said.

It added that Israel’s economy is now strong and stable, and that Israel and the United States are taking an important step towards moving from aid to partnership.

The statement said Netanyahu had outlined this position last May in an interview with CBS programme 60 Minutes, when he said: “I want to gradually reduce US financial aid to zero.”

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It also quoted US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as confirming the remarks in Paris earlier this week, saying the move was “a step that the Israelis themselves proposed to us”.

The Israeli government statement described the joint move by Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump as reflecting the strength of the alliance between the two countries and its ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

Meanwhile, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Monday that US military aid to Israel would not end by the close of this year, as Trump announced last week. Instead, it would be reduced by half before being phased out over five years.

The report added that the plan would include an increase in funding for the development of air defence systems, from $500 million a year to an unspecified amount.

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