Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would like to end US financial support for Israel's military over the next decade. I want to draw down the American support for Israel to zero," he said in an interview on CBS's 60 Minutes that aired Sunday. "We've come of age." He added, "I think that it's time that we weaned ourselves from the remaining military support and go from aid to partnership."
The US currently provides Israel with $3.8 billion a year in military assistance under a 10-year agreement originally negotiated by the Obama administration that lasts through 2028.
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The US military aid to Israel has at times been a contentious political issue, particularly during Israel's assault on Gaza in response to the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II, having benefited from more than $174 billion in non-inflation-adjusted funding to help bolster both its economy and military, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
Netanyahu made clear that he expects to see US-Israeli military cooperation expand in the coming years.
"I want to suggest projects, joint projects for intel, for weapons, for missile defense," he told CBS. "Israel I think has, you know, is a leader in this in the world." Earlier this year, the US approved the sales of about $6.7 billion of armaments to Israel, including AH-64E Apache attack helicopters.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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