There’s been a lot of criticism of America’s support for Israel over the years, amped up even more since Donald Trump became president and publicly expressed his commitment to that relationship.

Debating foreign aid and questioning how that aid might influence relations between countries is healthy and necessary, and the debate is as old as the Republic. George Washington warned about “the insidious wiles of foreign influence” in his famous Farewell Address and how they might ensnare our country in problems that wouldn’t exist otherwise. For this reason and others, we should always scrutinize aid to other countries, whether it’s for Israel, Ukraine, or Mozambique.

For many reasons, though, U.S. aid to Israel causes more consternation than the money we give to a long list of other countries, but it’s important to keep things in perspective. Those who’ve long opposed our financial arrangement with Israel might be surprised just how small that contribution is in the big picture. $3.8 billion sounds like a lot of money, but it’s small change compared to the overall federal budget.

And the deal that’s been in place between the U.S. and Israel for decades isn’t a one-sided affair. It’s not a simple handout. Israel spends the vast majority of U.S. military assistance directly on American defense contractors, ensuring these funds flow straight back into American factories, laboratories, and manufacturing plants. It provides high-tech manufacturing jobs and supports the defense industry.

Viewed in this light, the narrative of a massive foreign handout completely dissolves. The U.S. government essentially invests in its own industrial capacity while simultaneously equipping a reliable ally to handle regional threats. For a microscopic percentage of the federal budget, Washington secures both local economic benefits and a powerful proxy for stability in a critical region.

Yet there’s still the persistent perception that U.S. assistance is the only thing keeping Israel from financial collapse or that we’re building up its military without good reason.

“Israel haters seem to be under the impression that the Jewish state would find itself without any planes or guns, its entire economy in tatters, without American financial assistance,” writes David Harsanyi. “Israel’s annual defense budget is approaching $50 billion. Aid comprised a fraction of it. Israel’s defense sector exported an all-time high of $14.7 billion in 2025, most of it to European nations that are still effectively under the umbrella of American military protection.”

“Israel’s GDP will be nearly $800 billion next year,” adds Harsanyi. “The country’s per capita GDP is higher than that of most Western European nations. This is an extraordinary feat considering Israel doesn’t have much in the way of natural resources and has, more or less, been under constant attack since its inception.”

It’s also important to have a bit of historical perspective.

As the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal explains, “The U.S. aid is often misunderstood. It took off in earnest only after Israel’s victory in the 1967 war, in which the Jewish state proved it could be regionally dominant. Phasing out U.S. aid has since been an aim of the Israeli right, and in 1996 [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu initiated a gradual end to U.S. economic aid to Israel. Since 2008 only the military aid has remained — now $3.8 billion a year, including joint missile-defense research, set to expire in 2028.”

“Mr. Netanyahu first proposed winding down this aid,” adds the Journal. “He said as much to our Elliot Kaufman in 2024, and he spoke about it with Mr. Trump in 2025. The idea is to leave behind whatever patron-client relationship remains from the 1970s, when aid accounted for some 10% of Israel’s GDP — it’s now 0.5% — and instead invest jointly in military R&D as partners.”

This week, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would end its $3.8 billion aid package to Israel this year rather than waiting until the Memorandum of Understanding expires in 2028. Trump claims he’s making the move simply because Israel doesn’t need it.

Those who constantly warn about how America sending money to Israel might complicate the U.S.-Israeli relationship or embroil the U.S. in complex political or military situations should be glad to know that Israel no longer relies on that money.

Netanyahu and Trump made their decision based on their respective domestic political realities. Both politicians have faced strong criticism about their ties, and they’ve also been jolted by recent elections, with Netanyahu losing his majority in the Israeli parliament and Trump losing both houses of Congress just this week.

Reuters reports that Trump “seemed to acknowledge that aid to Israel, no longer the solid source of bipartisan consensus it had been for decades, had become a political liability for him among some voters.”

Critics on the Left have long denounced and exaggerated the U.S. relationship with Israel, but many in the MAGA movement have also criticized the president for what they perceive as a violation of his pledge to keep America out of a foreign war that they believe is tied to Israel’s interests. In any event, the joint decision to cut financial ties ends these arguments and clears the air. But will critics find other ways to denounce America’s relationship with Israel, which will continue beyond direct financial assistance?

Moving forward, American support for Israel may shift as Democrats shape policy after taking power this January and a new president enters the White House in 2029.