In a signal of growing turbulence in U.S.-Israel relations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers Sunday night that Israel may begin phasing out the $4 billion in annual military assistance it receives from the United States — a cornerstone of the strategic alliance between the two countries for decades.

“I think we will need to wean ourselves off American military aid,” Netanyahu reportedly told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, according to the Israeli daily Maariv. The comments come amid a deepening diplomatic rupture with the administration of President Donald Trump, once Israel’s most vocal backer on the world stage.

While Netanyahu did not offer specifics about the timeline or rationale behind the abrupt statement, the timing is impossible to ignore. The announcement followed reports that Trump has cut off direct contact with Netanyahu, accusing him privately of manipulation and obstruction on key foreign policy issues — including Hamas negotiations, Iran strategy, and stalled Saudi-Israeli normalization efforts.

Adding fuel to the fire, Trump recently confirmed that his administration held direct talks with Hamas over the release of Edan Alexander, a dual American-Israeli citizen held hostage in Gaza – further sidelining Israeli involvement in what would normally be a joint diplomatic priority.

Netanyahu’s statement coincides with a barrage of U.S. moves that have blindsided Israeli leadership. Chief among them: a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have openly declared they will continue attacking Israeli targets even as they agree to halt operations against American forces in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait. Trump’s confirmation of the deal — negotiated through Oman — effectively created a geopolitical firewall between U.S. and Israeli interests in the region.

Sources quoted in Maariv said Israeli officials were stunned by what appears to be a strategic decoupling by Washington. The abandonment of preconditions for Saudi normalization with Israel has further deepened Tel Aviv’s unease. Trump is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates this week — with no stop planned in Israel.

Once seen as perhaps the strongest U.S.-Israel alliance in modern history, the Trump-Netanyahu relationship now appears to be unraveling. The implications could be profound: a weakened U.S.-Israel front against Iran, diminished Israeli influence in regional diplomacy, and a future where Israel may have to operate with fewer American resources — both diplomatic and military.

“Israel’s official silence on all these developments is deafening,” Maariv noted, “but it speaks volumes about a relationship in crisis.”

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