Nov 4, 2026 04:11 PM
(This post was last modified: Nov 4, 2026 05:15 PM by C C.)
DOOM & GLOOM BRIGADE: Like a range of senile decisions in this critical year, yet another either arse backward or far too late one to halt the midterms disaster that will extend its effects into a resounding GOP obliteration in 2028. Why not have announced this at the start of the year instead of initiating another forever war in the Middle East? There is probably no hope of Democrats impeaching Trump immediately in February because "empowering Vance could be politically counterproductive" to the bloodfest they are savoring two years from now.
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Ending US aid to Israel is Netanyahu’s trump card against critics
https://www.newsweek.com/ending-us-aid-t...s-12658072
EXCERPTS: President Donald Trump's stated decision to halt annual payments of nearly $4 billion to Israel may ultimately prove beneficial to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The U.S. leader portrayed the surprise move, announced Tuesday amid the midterm elections, as having been taken pursuant to an agreement with the Israeli premier. In fact, it was Netanyahu who "brought it up," Trump said, arguing that the yearly aid offered left-wing critics like Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan "an easy target" to scrutinize levels of U.S.-Israel alliance assistance that Israeli officials "no longer need."
Netanyahu did not immediately comment. In January and May, he expressed his desire to ultimately wean Israel off U.S. military aid, though Trump's year-end cut-off comes far sooner than most observers anticipated.
[...] Michael Koplow, chief policy officer of the Israel Policy Forum and senior research fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America's Kogod Research Center, saw two possible ways in which Netanyahu could channel advantageous outcomes from the multibillion-dollar loss.
"One, he will portray Israel’s economy as strong enough under him to no longer depend on U.S. security assistance, and two, he will portray the move as one that will grant Israel more independence and freedom to operate as it pleases outside of U.S. constraints that come with threats to condition security assistance tied to Israeli policies," Koplow told Newsweek.
At the same time, Koplow said that the fallout "does come with political risk." He noted that, while Netanyahu has advocated for the general idea of breaking off Israel's dependency on U.S. aid, Trump appears to have pursued his own version of the plan, one that could result in a shortfall of 15 percent of Israel's military budget currently covered by the decade-old memorandum of understanding.
Already, Koplow said, "the Israeli opposition portrays this as a punitive measure that was not coordinated with Israel and that risks eroding bilateral ties with the U.S. over time, particularly given Trump’s framing that assistance to Israel has become a political albatross in American domestic politics."
[...] "There is no question that assistance has played an important role in Israel’s security," Victoria Coates, former deputy national security adviser to Trump who currently serves as vice president of the Heritage Foundation's Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, told Newsweek.
"But Israel today is not the Israel of 30 or 40 years ago. It has become a significant military, economic and technological power, and its defense spending has grown substantially."
The result, she argued, was "a story of Israeli strength and success, not American abandonment."
[...] Meanwhile, in the U.S., polls indicate support for reducing or ending U.S. aid to Israel has grown substantially in recent years.
[...] Overall favorability of Israel also plummeted to 44 percent this year, the lowest on record throughout nearly a half-century of tracking by the Chicago Council.
Daniel Samet, fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, saw Trump's decision as an appropriate means of addressing the reality of the U.S.-Israel relationship and the evolving perceptions around it... (MORE - details)
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Ending US aid to Israel is Netanyahu’s trump card against critics
https://www.newsweek.com/ending-us-aid-t...s-12658072
EXCERPTS: President Donald Trump's stated decision to halt annual payments of nearly $4 billion to Israel may ultimately prove beneficial to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The U.S. leader portrayed the surprise move, announced Tuesday amid the midterm elections, as having been taken pursuant to an agreement with the Israeli premier. In fact, it was Netanyahu who "brought it up," Trump said, arguing that the yearly aid offered left-wing critics like Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan "an easy target" to scrutinize levels of U.S.-Israel alliance assistance that Israeli officials "no longer need."
Netanyahu did not immediately comment. In January and May, he expressed his desire to ultimately wean Israel off U.S. military aid, though Trump's year-end cut-off comes far sooner than most observers anticipated.
[...] Michael Koplow, chief policy officer of the Israel Policy Forum and senior research fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America's Kogod Research Center, saw two possible ways in which Netanyahu could channel advantageous outcomes from the multibillion-dollar loss.
"One, he will portray Israel’s economy as strong enough under him to no longer depend on U.S. security assistance, and two, he will portray the move as one that will grant Israel more independence and freedom to operate as it pleases outside of U.S. constraints that come with threats to condition security assistance tied to Israeli policies," Koplow told Newsweek.
At the same time, Koplow said that the fallout "does come with political risk." He noted that, while Netanyahu has advocated for the general idea of breaking off Israel's dependency on U.S. aid, Trump appears to have pursued his own version of the plan, one that could result in a shortfall of 15 percent of Israel's military budget currently covered by the decade-old memorandum of understanding.
Already, Koplow said, "the Israeli opposition portrays this as a punitive measure that was not coordinated with Israel and that risks eroding bilateral ties with the U.S. over time, particularly given Trump’s framing that assistance to Israel has become a political albatross in American domestic politics."
[...] "There is no question that assistance has played an important role in Israel’s security," Victoria Coates, former deputy national security adviser to Trump who currently serves as vice president of the Heritage Foundation's Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, told Newsweek.
"But Israel today is not the Israel of 30 or 40 years ago. It has become a significant military, economic and technological power, and its defense spending has grown substantially."
The result, she argued, was "a story of Israeli strength and success, not American abandonment."
[...] Meanwhile, in the U.S., polls indicate support for reducing or ending U.S. aid to Israel has grown substantially in recent years.
[...] Overall favorability of Israel also plummeted to 44 percent this year, the lowest on record throughout nearly a half-century of tracking by the Chicago Council.
Daniel Samet, fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, saw Trump's decision as an appropriate means of addressing the reality of the U.S.-Israel relationship and the evolving perceptions around it... (MORE - details)