In an interview with The Economist published last week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) boldly declared his intention to phase out Israel’s reliance on military and economic aid from the United States within a decade.
Although the prime minister has made several statements about reducing Israel’s dependency on Washington over the last year, this was the first time Netanyahu stated the possibility of not renewing the $3.8 billion US military assistance package that Israel has been receiving each year.
While the aid package is due for renegotiation in 2028, Netanyahu told The Economist that he plans to fully end Israel’s reliance on American support within the next ten years – a move the prime minister claimed to already be “in progress.”
Netanyahu further expressed interest in the State of Israel being “as independent as possible.”
While many Israeli and US Jewish leaders have long touted the aid as being expressive of a strong relationship between Washington and Jerusalem, clear signs that the next generation of American decision makers will be far less supportive of Israel has challenged the position that the aid should be maintained.
If the likelihood of future US administrations being overtly hostile to Israel is high, it stands to reason that being militarily dependent on Washington would place Jerusalem in a very precarious position.
Netanyahu clearly sees an urgent need and historic opportunity to free Israel from US military assistance in the most amiable fashion possible.
US President Donald Trump has meanwhile been reported to oppose the idea of ending the aid, expressing skepticism that doing so would benefit either nation.
Netanyahu reportedly departed Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort two weeks ago without having committed to halt or move forward with his plan. But he has since then been promoting the idea with US lawmakers.
Independence from the United States is actually something the prime minister has been seeking to achieve for decades. Unlike most Israeli political figures, Netanyahu has long understood the aid to be one of the primary tools that Washington uses to assert control over Jerusalem.
When he first entered office in 1996, Netanyahu spoke openly about Israel becoming economically independent from Washington but met opposition from the Clinton administration while receiving no domestic support for this agenda. He was forced to abandon the idea at the time but, since returning to office in 2009, may have been carefully and quietly working to create the conditions to free Israel from Washington’s control.
Now that so many American voices have been publicly questioning the benefit that the aid brings to the United States, Netanyahu likely sees an opportunity to eliminate the aid while avoiding a major confrontation. Knowing better than most how to take the political temperature of a society, he likely sees that the current political conditions are as conducive as they will ever be for Israel to attain greater independence in a way that avoids openly antagonizing the empire.
In publicly advancing this plan, Netanyahu has cornered Trump in much the same way as Trump has so often cornered Netanyahu.
The president must understand how the aid serves as Washington’s primary tool of control over Israel but also likely sees how unpopular it’s become among the American public – including growing camps within his own MAGA base. Pushing for the aid to continue while the Israeli government officially seeks its end risks revealing its actual function and the true nature of the US-Israel relationship.
But allowing Israel to stop accepting the aid could weaken Washington’s grip over Jerusalem and threaten US interests in West Asia.
By choosing a moment when support for aid to Israel is at an all time low among Americans, Netanyahu has given Trump little room to maneuver. And because the president is currently distracted on other fronts, Netanyahu is likely betting that he could advance his plan to the point of becoming policy before Trump can give it the necessary attention required to stop it.
If the prime minister succeeds in freeing Israel from economic and military dependency on the US, this would be his most significant achievement as Israel’s head of state. More than halting Iran’s nuclear program or signing the Abraham Accords, independence from the US Empire will be the true legacy that enshrines Netanyahu in the hearts of the Jewish people for generations to come.
