Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel can afford to pay for its own defense, days after President Donald Trump announced plans to end $4 billion in annual U.S. military assistance. (Foto: Instagram)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel is wealthy enough to pay for its own defense, days after President Donald Trump announced an end to U.S. military assistance worth $4 billion a year. Rubio made the remarks Monday, November 9, during the Group of Seven summit in France. The amount is equivalent to about 22 billion Brazilian reais.
“They can buy weapons from us, but we no longer need to provide the funding,” Rubio told reporters when asked about the aid.
Trump announced the planned end of the military funding last week. At the time, he said the agreement had been used by the Democratic Party as an election issue ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. Republicans, Trump’s party, lost in those elections.
The United States and Israel have had an agreement providing billions of dollars in U.S. funding since 2019. Israel uses much of the money to buy weapons, primarily from the United States. The agreement had been expected to remain in place until 2028.
