Trump Is Right: Ending U.S. Aid to Israel Strengthens Both Nations

President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States intends to end approximately $4 billion in annual military assistance to Israel should be welcomed as a historic achievement for both nations.

Instead, parts of Israel’s political opposition reacted as though the President had announced the abandonment of the Jewish state.

Yair Golan, leader of Israel’s Democrats party, called the decision a severe blow to Israeli security and argued that a responsible prime minister should have fought to increase American assistance rather than eliminate it.

That reaction reveals something deeply troubling about the political psychology of Israel’s left.

President Trump is not proposing to abandon Israel. He has explicitly stated that America will continue selling weapons to its closest Middle Eastern ally and provide assistance when necessary. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has advocated transitioning away from American aid, and the two governments have already initiated formal discussions about a more reciprocal defense partnership.

The proposition is simple: Israel has become strong enough to finance its own defense, and America should treat it accordingly.

Why should that be considered a catastrophe?

The American Left Understands Something Israel’s Left Apparently Does Not

Perhaps the greatest irony is that ending direct military subsidies to Israel has become one of the rare issues attracting support across America’s political divide.

In July, 103 House Democrats supported an amendment eliminating $3.3 billion in military financing for Israel. The measure failed, but its support was significant.

Even J Street, the liberal American Jewish advocacy organization, has endorsed responsibly phasing out American military subsidies and replacing them with a relationship grounded in shared strategic interests.

President Trump and J Street certainly disagree about much of American foreign policy. Their motivations for ending subsidies are different, as are their views concerning future arms transfers.

But they have reached an important common conclusion: Wealthy American allies should not remain permanently dependent upon American taxpayers.

This is an extraordinary opportunity to remove an increasingly divisive issue from American politics while strengthening the foundation of the U.S.–Israel alliance.

Yet elements of Israel’s left seem determined to preserve precisely the dependency that American liberals and conservatives are increasingly questioning.

My Grandfather Warned About This Thirty-Five Years Ago

My grandfather, Dr. Irving Moskowitz, dedicated his life to strengthening Jewish sovereignty in Israel.

After his passing in 2016, I compiled his writings into a collection titled One Minute to Midnight. Reading through his essays, I discovered a recurring warning about the dangers of Israeli dependence upon American financial assistance.

In August 1991, he argued that Israel should be willing to forgo $10 billion in American loan guarantees rather than compromise its sovereign interests. He urged Israel to seek alternative financing from Diaspora Jewry.

In October of that year, he called upon Israel to abandon the loan-guarantee request if it became an instrument of political coercion, and instead pursue economic reforms and private investment.

In December 1992, he warned that Israel had become trapped in a dependency relationship and called for American-Israeli relations based on maturity, mutual respect, and independence.

His 1993 monograph, Should America “Guarantee” Israel’s Safety?, similarly warned against substituting American security promises for Israel’s independent defensive capabilities – that monographs introduction was written by Senator Al D’Amato.

My grandfather was not opposed to American friendship or cooperation. Nor did he categorically reject every form of assistance.

He understood that financial dependency could ultimately compromise the very sovereignty Zionism was intended to establish.

I cannot speak for him today, but I believe there is a compelling argument that he would welcome President Trump’s underlying vision.

My position is an evolution of his.

He believed Israel must possess the courage to refuse American assistance when it threatened its independence.

I believe Israel has now matured to the point where it should no longer require that assistance in the first place.

It Is Time to Leave the Ghetto

The Holocaust understandably shaped Jewish political consciousness. For centuries, Jewish security depended upon the goodwill of foreign governments.

The establishment of Israel was intended to end that condition.

Zionism represented a revolutionary proposition: The Jewish people would no longer depend exclusively upon others to determine their destiny.

Yet a portion of Israel’s political establishment continues to operate within a post-Holocaust mentality in which Jewish security ultimately requires the protection and financial support of a greater power.

This is a profoundly outdated conception of Jewish sovereignty.

The Holocaust should teach us why Jewish independence is indispensable—not why that independence must remain permanently subsidized.

Israel today possesses a formidable military, a sophisticated economy, a world-class technological sector, and an advanced defense industry.

Its scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs have created capabilities sought by the world’s leading powers.

This is not the defenseless Jewish community of prewar Europe.

It is time to leave the ghetto—not the memory of it, but the mentality of dependence that centuries of political powerlessness imposed upon us.

Why Both Countries Win

For America, ending routine subsidies advances fiscal responsibility, reduces a recurring source of political controversy, and establishes a more sustainable strategic relationship.

Much of the current $3.8 billion assistance package supports purchases from American defense manufacturers. Those economic benefits matter, but they need not disappear when subsidies end.

Israel can continue purchasing American weapons with Israeli funds.

American and Israeli companies can jointly develop missile-defense systems, counter-drone technologies, cybersecurity capabilities, and other advanced military technologies.

Both nations can invest where the strategic and commercial benefits justify doing so.

That is genuine partnership.

For Israel, financial independence means greater freedom to make procurement decisions, invest in domestic manufacturing, strengthen essential supply chains, and reduce exposure to American political pressure.

The relationship would remain close, but its foundation would change.

From subsidy to commerce.

From dependence to reciprocity.

From patronage to partnership.

Indeed, Israel’s Ministry of Defense has already announced negotiations with Washington on precisely this kind of framework.

Of course, the transition must be implemented responsibly. The existing assistance agreement runs through 2028, Congress has a role, and Israel’s immediate defense requirements cannot simply be ignored.

Those are legitimate implementation challenges.

They are not arguments for maintaining permanent financial dependence.

A New Chapter in Jewish Sovereignty

For too long, the strength of the American-Israeli relationship has been measured by the size of Washington’s annual assistance package.

That is the wrong measure.

The strongest alliance is not necessarily the one in which one country writes the largest check to the other.

It is the one in which both countries contribute meaningfully to each other’s security and prosperity.

President Trump recognizes that Israel has reached a new stage of national maturity.

America benefits when its allies are strong, self-reliant, and capable of contributing to common strategic objectives.

Israel benefits when its sovereignty rests increasingly upon its own economic and military strength.

My grandfather fought for a Jewish state that could say no.

I believe we have reached the moment when Israel can finally say: We can stand on our own.

That is not the end of the American-Israeli alliance.

It is the beginning of a stronger one.