In Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s interview with The Economist, he declared Jerusalem’s goal of tapering off American aid to the State of Israel. He envisages the process taking about a decade and culminating with Israel receiving zero aid from the United States.
As the first step toward that goal, Netanyahu revealed that Israel may not seek to fully renew the $3.8 billion annual American military assistance package, which is up for renegotiation in 2028. This is the first public statement of an intention to halt American aid, and it is no coincidence that it appeared on the pages of The Economist. The message was intended for the United States, the English-speaking public, and the broader global audience.
This public announcement is the culmination of a long and painful reevaluation of the strategic landscape and of America’s role on the world stage in particular. For anyone following America and Israel, the announcement is no surprise: It finally makes clear what has been rumored and whispered by many; a political Rubicon being crossed. It takes immense political courage to admit a new reality and to declare that cherished illusions of a receding world are no more.
Why Israel doesn't want US aid
Why would Israel say no to help from the United States? Why would anyone do such a seemingly foolish thing? There are a few reasons. The dramatic political upheavals inside the US are one of them. America is tragically divided almost exactly in half, as it has not been since the years preceding World War II. It is in a volatile state that one might describe as a cultural civil war, with each side unwilling to compromise or accommodate the other.
There are no longer any consensus issues, including foreign policy. Hot issues, such as Israel and the Middle East in general, that require constant direct input from the administration, have become mismanaged, and policies spanning multiple administrations increasingly resemble the acts of a schizophrenic patient.
In the span of a year, the pendulum swung from the Biden administration’s weapons embargo on Israel, intended to influence its actions in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, to the Trump administration joining the Jewish state in its strikes against Iran. That change in policy was a much-welcomed 180° turnaround, but it underscored the inherent problem with America’s foreign policy. It has become unreliable and unpredictable. That instability may eventually resolve itself, but doing so will take decades. In the foreseeable future, America is likely to jump from one policy extreme to another.
Because of the absence of any consensus, Democrats and Republicans take opposite positions on nearly every foreign policy issue. Hot issues, such as Israel or Ukraine, are even more charged, attracting intense support or opposition. Bipartisan support for the State of Israel is a feature of bygone years. Long gone are the days when aid aroused little more than understanding and a desire to help.
It has degenerated into a contentious issue, with the debate around it becoming something of a circus act, as each side jockeys for virtue signaling and public visibility. Both the far Left and the far Right use the aid as “proof” in their respective narratives of why Israel is supposedly running US foreign policy behind the scenes. This debate is deeply counterproductive to Jerusalem’s public image and has become a major friction point in dealings with both administrations and Congress.
American Jewry's decline
Then there is the issue of declining American Jewry. The sunset of its political clout is becoming impossible to hide. Figures such as Ilhan Omar on the Left and Nick Fuentes on the Right ascribe almost magical powers of influence to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in American politics. What they miss – and what American politicians have long understood – is that, unlike other influence groups, AIPAC was not merely a powerful lobbying organization. It was a political arm of millions of American citizens interested in and invested in the well-being of the State of Israel.
Behind AIPAC were actual voters across the United States willing to support pro-Israel positions with their votes in local, state, and federal elections. That, rather than financial backing alone, was the real source of the committee’s power.
But two generations after the Holocaust, American Jewry is disintegrating. The consensus around Israel is gone. And while the number of Jews appears to increase with every census, the number who actively care about Israel and other Jewish concerns is dropping rapidly.
The last nail in the coffin of Jewish American political clout was the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City. Not only did the city with the largest Jewish population in the Diaspora elect a rabid antisemite and anti-Zionist, but a large percentage of Jewish voters – the majority of them young – supported him. “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” The talmudic sage Hillel once asked. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have taken notice.
Israel is on the path to becoming a trillion-dollar economy. It can use some help, but today it can survive and prosper on its own without American aid. That aid is becoming increasingly counterproductive, creating unnecessary friction within American society, while its benefits are being dwarfed by the negative discourse it generates. Israel can and should move forward on its own – still a close friend of the United States, but an independent friend, not a friend in need. The “special relationship,” so praised and celebrated, is closing its final chapter.
The author lives and works in Silicon Valley, California. He is a founding member of San Francisco Voice for Israel.