Trump: Netanyahu Barely Pushed Back on Ending Israel Aid

US President Donald Trump said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "barely even pushed back" on ending the $4 billion a year Washington provides Israel. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, as reported by The Jerusalem Post. In the same interview he addressed his recent statement that the United States would end that aid by the end of 2026.

"Basically, we provide Israel with four billion dollars a year - including weapons and other things," Trump said. "That's more than we give any other country, and people use that against us. And they don't need it. They've become quite wealthy."

He said the two leaders had been discussing the issue for the past four months. "I told him, 'You know, Bibi, you can afford to stand on your own two feet now; you don't need this aid,'" Trump said. He added that Netanyahu "even suggested it himself." Trump said Israel would still be able to purchase weapons from the United States.

The comments came as Trump responded to a midterm vote in which Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Democrats took the Senate after flipping six Republican seats.

Speaking by phone to The Wall Street Journal, Trump said the war with Iran had contributed to the Republican losses. "Iran was a piece of it," he said. He insisted he had no regrets, saying he "did the right thing. I would have done it again."

Ynet reported that Trump regarded the spike in oil and gasoline prices, rather than the war itself, as the most politically costly fallout. On the campaign trail, he argued that costlier fuel was worth bearing if it kept Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. On Election Day, he declared on Fox News that "inflation is solved."

Trump refused to treat the result as his own loss. "I don't like to consider this a defeat; I wasn't on the ballot," he said. On Truth Social, he wrote that he would have won "in a landslide" had his name appeared. He said Republican candidates "could have been better" and that some were "not acceptable to the voters," while congratulating Democrats, who he said had "worked very hard."

He also vowed to use his veto. "I have the ultimate power — it's called 'veto,'" he told CBS News. "They'll send over things that are insane and I'll veto them," he said. At the same time, he said he expected to "get along very well" with Democrats and indicated he did not plan changes to his Cabinet.

On Tuesday, Trump told the Financial Times that Washington has no immediate plans to renew strikes on Iran, adding that American forces remain "locked and loaded" if action becomes necessary.