Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
ZOA is concerned that President Trump stated today that the U.S. will cut off all of the $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel at the end of 2026. This is almost two years earlier than provided for in the current U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which authorizes aid through the end of fiscal year 2028 (September 30, 2028).
The ZOA is questioning why the U.S. isn’t also ending the more than $4 billion in annual U.S. aid to the Arab Muslim countries of Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority entity – especially when those countries vote with the U.S. less than 10% of the time at the United Nations. (By contrast, Israel is a reliable ally that votes with the U.S. at the United Nations over 90% of the time – more than any other nation.)
Incidentally, the U.S. gave Pakistan $67 billion from 1947-2011; $32 billion over past 20 years, plus energy investments and $80 million for pandemic relief; and Pakistan is now seeking a $10 billion economic stabilization fund from the U.S. in exchange for Pakistan helping mediate a useless, bad, promptly violated deal with Iran. The U.S. gives Egypt $2 billion per year (over $74 billion since 1979); Jordan (which harbors terrorists) $1.45 billion per year ($33.8 billion through 2025); Lebanese armed forces $230 million in 2025 to disarm Hezbollah (but LAF did not yet disarm Hezbollah); Afghanistan $150 billion from 2001 to cut off in 2025; and Ukraine $195 billion from FY2022-26.
We are also concerned that an abrupt cutoff will harm the U.S. defense industry and the almost 300,000 jobs that the aid to Israel supports, due to the MOU requirement that the aid to Israel must be spent in the U.S. We hope that new joint defense technology arrangements reportedly under discussion will benefit industries in both the U.S. and Israel.
The affordability of an early end to aid to Israel does not seem to be clear-cut. Over the last three years, Israel has had to spend approximately $177 billion to degrade the arch enemies of America and the killers and kidnappers of Americans, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iraqi militias and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
We very much appreciate that President Trump also said today that the U.S. would help Israel if the country needed assistance. But we are concerned that ad hoc aid may not adequately substitute for agreed aid under the MOU.
The $3.8 billion of U.S. aid has been of great benefit to America. Former head of U.S. Air Force Intelligence General George Keegan stated that the U.S. would need five CIAs to gather the intelligence provided by Israel. Then-U.S. Secretary of State, General Alexander Haig famously said that Israel is “the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.” (One American aircraft carrier costs $15 billion to build, $6.5 million a day to maintain, plus crews, fuel and other costs, totaling over $50 billion.)
West Point Urban Warfare Studies Director John Spencer explained that the U.S. is “way ahead” regarding its aid to Israel, and that: “No other recipient of American military assistance [other than Israel] provides the same combination of economic, security, military, innovation, and strategic returns.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said: “Fighting shoulder to shoulder with such a capable ally [Israel] is a true force multiplier” and praised “the critical role the State of Israel plays in our strategic calculus.”
It is also important to remember that in 1978, the U.S. induced Israel to give up all of Sinai, the Alma oil fields and four Sinai oil wells that Israel had developed at enormous cost, by the U.S. agreeing to pay Israel $2.5 billion per year of lost oil revenue. The Alma oil fields would be worth a staggering $433.8 billion today.
Regarding the president’s statement today that “Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like El-Sayed when they [Israel] don’t need it [the aid]? It’s a bad talking point.”: We are concerned that the early aid cutoff sends a message to Jew-haters that their outrageous, false condemnations of the Jewish state pay dividends and influence U.S. policy. We cannot allow campaigns of hate to have any impact on our policy.
The ZOA urges President Trump to reconsider an abrupt cut-off, to consider a gradual phaseout, and to assure that joint technology arrangements are an adequate substitute that benefits both America and our valuable ally Israel.