Israel Seeks New 20-Year Defense Funding Deal With US

“This is out-of-the-box thinking,” an Israeli official has been quoted in Axios as saying. “We want to change the way we handled past agreements and put more emphasis on US-Israel cooperation. The Americans like this idea.”

The comment stems from what many on the American Right increasingly see as a very asymmetrical relationship based on Washington’s seeming longtime ‘blank check’ approach to its number one Mideast ally. Israel typically does what it wants, and the American taxpayer funds it – currently to the tune of around $4 billion per year in military aid. And then there’s extra Gaza war-related aid on top of that stemming back to 2024.

In the wake of the Trump-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, which Prime Minister Netanyahu appeared to resist at first, there’s been emerging evidence and commentary pointing to the White House applying unprecedented pressure on Israel to conform.

Axios is reporting Thursday the Israel wants to double the length of the next round of the security funding agreement with the Untied States, in a report which has far been denied by Netanyahu:

Israel is seeking a new 20-year security agreement with the U.S. — doubling the usual term and adding “America First” provisions to win the Trump administration’s support, Israeli and U.S. officials tell Axios.

While the past agreement promised Israel around $4 billion per year in military aid, and Israel is likely to seek at least that much going forward, passing such a deal will now be more complicated because of growing frustrations with Israel, including within Trump’s MAGA base.

The current 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed in 2016 under Barack Obama, expires in 2028. Israel wants to conclude the new deal over the next year.

It must be remembered that in 2024 under the Biden administration Congress signed off on a multibillion-dollar emergency military assistance package for Israel in addition to the annual foreign aid/military assistance package.

But the atmosphere has changed among Trump’s Republican base, as especially more and more young people are calling out such massive support for Israel as the opposite of America First.

This pushback is being led by voices like Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie… and even Nick Fuentes is growing in influence, in terms of mainstream popularity among young conservatives.

AIPAC is sending fundraising emails attacking me for saying, “the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza.”

Well this is the sign… pic.twitter.com/AF3RUrAWAY

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 7, 2025

They question why American bombs have been used to obliterate civilians in huge numbers in Gaza, while also warning against entangling alliances which bring blowback on US interests and security.

It looks like Israel is responding to this in some ways, for example by seeking to use the language of America First in order to try and satisfy Trump admin officials, to arrive at the best deals.