Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected a report that Jerusalem is seeking a 20-year US security aid package, saying its “direction is exactly the opposite” and adding that “it is time to ensure that Israel is independent,” with an announcement expected “very soon.”
In an interview on Australian journalist Erin Molan’s podcast, Netanyahu addressed the report released minutes earlier, telling Molan to “follow what I say, not what is proposed in some leaks that are not true,” framing his policy as a shift toward “greater independence.”
Netanyahu linked this stance to his first term as prime minister, recalling that in 1996 he told Congress that Israel would phase out economic aid to build a “high-tech, free-market capitalist economy.”
He said he now wants Israel’s arms industry to be “as independent as possible.”
When asked if it was time to cut military aid completely, he responded: “It is time to ensure that Israel is independent.”
He noted that U.S. support for Israel is a “small, very, very small fraction” of what Washington has spent elsewhere in the Middle East and emphasized that about 80 percent of the assistance is spent in the United States on American-made systems.
The comments came as Israeli and US officials continue quiet preliminary contacts on the next security framework before the current MoU expires in 2028.
The report says Israeli and US officials have discussed a 20-year framework with “America First” elements, including directing funding for joint research and development in defense technology, artificial intelligence and the “Gold Dome” initiative, to appeal to the Trump administration as talks intensify.
Israeli media reported that the government is simultaneously examining alternatives to the current aid architecture (the $3.8 billion-a-year memorandum of understanding that expires in 2028), including models that give more weight to bilateral technological cooperation and joint production than traditional subsidies.
Furthermore, officials said i24NEWS that Israel is considering a gradual reduction in US military aid, echoing Netanyahu’s call for a “much more independent” defense industry.
Marc Zell, president of Republicans Overseas Israel, welcomed the direction in response to the Axios report, urging Israel to “completely disengage from American military aid — perhaps gradually, but completely — and transition to a purely commercial relationship.”
“True sovereignty and true partnership require Israel to stand on its own two feet,” he said.
The discussion has been brewing for months.
In March, Jewish Insider described Likud MP Amit Halevi’s campaign to replace subsidies with a partnership model focused on cooperative R&D and joint production, arguing that aid “creates a false narrative of dependency” and exposes Israel to political pressure.
In January, the outlet detailed a Knesset subcommittee hearing that examined how changes in US policy (and delays in arms deliveries at the time under the then-Biden administration) should shape Israel’s strategic posture.
In May, it reported that Netanyahu had told lawmakers that Israel should begin “disengaging” from American military aid, ending the phaseout of economic assistance in the 1990s.
Israeli officials indicated that Netanyahu could outline concrete steps toward that independence in the coming weeks.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
