Heritage Foundation, those folks who brought us Project 2025, the operating manual for Donald Trump’s chaotic second administration, wants to “reorient” the US-Israel relationship by ending its foreign aid.
These are the geniuses on the far Right who want to expand the power of the president, make the Congress his rubber stamp, slash the size of government by firing tens of thousands of government workers, shred the social safety net, and eliminate foreign aid, among other things.
They insist that “ending Israel’s reliance on US military assistance” by 2047 will strengthen the alliance. Israel currently receives $3.8 billion annually under a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that is up for renewal next year.
The Heritage report gratuitously insists “ending Israel’s reliance on US military financing” would elevate it from a lowly “security aid recipient” to a “true strategic partnership” and “fundamentally change Israel’s geopolitical position within the region.”
That conflicts with longstanding US policy that sees Israel as a critical regional strategic partner in a broad and mutually beneficial partnership. But as Netanyahu’s disruptive reign continues and the war in Gaza shows no sign of ending, that argument will be harder to sustain.
Supporters of aid to Israel argue it is good for the US economy because it is predominantly spent here, creating jobs in the defense industry and elsewhere. Will Israel shop elsewhere? Does Israel, with a standard of living among the highest in the Middle East and rivaling that of Western European nations, really need the US taxpayer subsidy?
But with much of the world – and much of the American public – critical of Israel’s destruction of much of Gaza, will continued US military aid be seen as a violation of the humanitarian principles that have long been a foundation of US foreign aid?
The strategic relationship is built on solid, mutually-beneficial grounds. By any objective measure, pound for pound, the IDF and Israeli intelligence services have no peer. The United States benefits from Israel’s experience, intelligence, and technology as much or more than from any other ally, notwithstanding the massive intelligence failures that led to October 7.
Aid cut proposals have nothing to do with Israel's security
The Heritage Foundation’s severing proposal can’t be dismissed as just the ruminations of another right-wing think tank. In reality, it has nothing to do with Israel’s security in its dangerous neighborhood; its only focus is extreme right-wing ideology.
The architect of Project 2025, Russell Vought, is now running the powerful Office of Management and Budget, the president’s right hand, overseeing the federal budget and managing the executive branch. This anti-aid proposal is a spin-off of his earlier treatise.
In his lust to slash government spending, Trump knows that his cherished trillion-dollar tax cuts for millionaires and corporations won’t pay for themselves. Foreign aid is a high-value target in a neo-isolationist administration.
The United States is the largest aid donor in the world, accounting for more than 40% of all humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations. However, that number is headed for a dramatic drop following Trump’s shuttering of USAID, which provides humanitarian, medical, food, economic, and educational support to the neediest countries. All foreign aid is barely 1.2% of the federal budget, contrary to the public perception fed by MAGA isolationists and xenophobes.
It is hard to understand how a president who wants to end most foreign aid, eviscerate the State Department and foreign policy establishment, wage trade wars, and castigate the nation’s oldest and closest allies sees himself as a world leader. Yet, in an Atlantic magazine interview out this week, Trump modestly declared, “I run the country and the world.”
Look for a lot of deep cutting in the budget that the White House will be sending to Capitol Hill any day now. Medicaid is said to be on the chopping block along with childcare, housing assistance, education, health research, and foreign aid.
Israel may be the least vulnerable, at least for now, because aid to the Jewish state is as much a domestic political issue as it is one of foreign policy. But for how long?
Does maintaining current levels of aid to Israel really serve US strategic interests?
Many argue that continuing the current aid levels validates Netanyahu’s long history of thwarting American policy goals, most notably involving the war in Gaza, settlement expansion, and violence in the West Bank and Iran.
Israel’s broad bipartisan support has been waning, especially among Democrats, Israel’s traditional base and home for most Jewish voters. That’s a result of Israel’s extreme nationalist/religious government’s anti-democratic policies, human rights practices, and conduct of the Gaza war. Recently, 19 Democratic senators, many with long records of support for Israel, voted to block two symbolic arms sales to the Jewish state as a protest.
Trump is continually asking: “What’s in it for me?” He professes great support for Israel, but if there’s one thing he and former president Joe Biden have in common, it is deep distrust of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That contributes to Trump’s decision to bypass Israel in a new defense and economic agreement he is expected to sign when he goes to Saudi Arabia in May. Missing from that deal, which both presidents sought, is normalization between the kingdom and Israel.
At their White House meeting in early April, Trump pointedly reminded the prime minister, “Don’t forget, we help Israel a lot. We give Israel $4 billion a year, that’s a lot… One of the highest of anyone.” The message was clear: “The Donald Giveth and the Donald Can Taketh Away, so just remember your place, junior.”
We’ll find out where Trump stands when negotiations for the extension of the MOU begin.
One factor may be American Jewish voters. A new survey by the nonpartisan Jewish Electorate Institute (JEI) shows 72% of American Jews disapprove of Trump’s performance (similar to the number who voted against him in three elections). In the last campaign, he told a group of Jewish conservatives: “If I don’t win this election, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.”
Trump claims to be leading a battle against antisemitism, but many prominent Jews have accused him of waging that fight under a false flag. Five Jewish senators accused him of weaponizing antisemitism “as a pretext to attack people and institutions who don’t agree with him.” Many Jewish leaders share that view. A majority responding to the JEI poll disapproved of how he’s dealing with antisemitism.
Criticizing Israel and its government is not antisemitic. If it were, at least half of all Israelis and American Jews would be so branded. Accusing American Jews of being more loyal to Israel or some globalist Jewish agenda than to their own country – that is antisemitic.
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and a former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
