Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will begin to reexamine its relationship with the United States to move away from financial support.
In a “60 Minutes” interview, Major Garrett asked Netanyahu if he believed it is “time for the state of Israel to reexamine and possibly reset its financial relationship to the United States? Meaning, what the United States provides to Israel on an annual basis.”
Netanyahu said, “Absolutely. And I’ve said this to President Trump,” and added that the remarks make “jaws drop.”
“I want to draw down to zero the American financial support, the financial component of the military cooperation that we have,” he elaborated, “Because we receive– we receive $3.8 billion a year. And I– I think that it’s time that we weaned ourselves from the remaining– military support.” Netanyahu noted that the time table starts “now” and will continue “over the next decade, over the next ten years, but I want to start now. I don’t want to wait for the next Congress. I want to start now.”
Netanyahu went on to state that the intelligence that the United States has gained from Israel is worth “five CIAs.”
“Now, I don’t know if it’s worth five CIAs or one CIA. I respect the CIA a lot,” he explained. “But intangible matters. Israel is your best ally. It’s the only one that really provides you with gems of intelligence, shares our incredible technology, appreciates every penny that you gave us, deeply appreciates it.”
“But I want, I think it’s time that we– end it over time, an agreed schedule– American military aid, and move from aid to partnership,” Netanyahu added.
