Israel needs to move toward a future where it moves into partnership with the United States instead of simply receiving aid, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.
During an interview broadcast on the CBS show “60 Minutes,” Netanyahu was asked by interviewer Major Garrett if he thought it was “time for the state of Israel to reexamine and possibly reset its financial relationship to the United States? “
“Absolutely. And I’ve said this to President Trump. I’ve said it in…to our own people. Their jaws drop,” Netanyahu said in a video posted to X.
“What I’m saying is that I want to draw down to zero the American financial support, the financial component of the military cooperation that we have. Because we receive — we received $3.8 billion a year,” he said.
“I think that it’s time that we weaned ourselves from the remaining military support,” he said in the video in a section edited from a later part of the interview. In a transcript of the interview, he said his goal was to go “from aid to partnership.”
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Jumping to another section of the interview, the social media post shows Netanyahu calling for a gradual change in the relationship.
“I said, let’s start now and do it over the next decade, over the next 10 years, but I want to start now. I don’t want to wait for the next Congress. I want to start now,” he said.
The transcript noted that after that comment, Netanyahu said, “But the most important thing, you know, General Keane, who was head of one of your intelligence services said, ‘Of what Israel gave to the United States just on intel, it’s worth five CIAs.’ Now, I don’t know if it’s worth five CIAs or one CIA. I respect the CIA a lot. But in tangible 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.”
“You know, if you go in Israel today, it’s not like other countries. Like, everybody’s pro-American because we appreciate what America stands for. We appreciate the aid that was given. We appreciate what is happening now. We share — we appreciate President Trump’s resolute stand, and the fact that the American military is performing so miraculously and so bravely alongside our brave people, our brave pilots and soldiers. We appreciate all that,” he said.
“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.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells 60 Minutes he wants Israel to eventually stop relying on U.S. military aid: “It's time that we weaned ourselves from the remaining military support.” https://t.co/mEN4CWeXMW pic.twitter.com/LIwJKrfMOQ
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 10, 2026
In the interview, Netanyahu acknowledged that American public support for Israel is flagging and blamed it on social media manipulation.
“We have several countries that basically manipulated social media with the bot farms with fake addresses, to break the American sympathy to Israel, to break the American-Israeli alliance, because they think it’s in their interest,” he said, noting the manipulation has hurt the U.S. as well.
“But it’s not only our front. It’s also your front. You know, so many of Americans, young people, say they’re not proud to be Americans. I think they should be proud. I mean, without America, we wouldn’t have this generation of freedom. We wouldn’t have the free societies that we have and free civilization that we have. And, you know– I think that this is a challenge that not only faces the American-Israeli relationship, it challenges the way America sees itself,” he said.
Netanyahu said a revamped partnership with Israel is “gonna be a lot cheaper, because I want to draw down the American support for Israel to zero. We’ve come of age.”
“We have — a booming economy. After three years of war, you know, our currency’s the strongest it’s ever been in the last 50 years, maybe more. Our stock market is one of the leading stock markets in the world. It’s because we have this– this very high-tech juggernaut economy, one of the two — centers of cross-discipline — breaking, breaking technologies just changing the world,” he said.
“And we have a lot of talent here, which we share with our American friends. And we’re gonna share it with our Arab friends too. And I — I think that it’s time that we weaned ourselves from the remaining– military support and go from aid to partnership,” he said.
“So I want to draw down, and then I want to suggest projects, joint projects for intel, for weapons, for missile defense. Israel I think, has, you know, is a leader in this in the world. Many countries come to us for it. I’d like to share it with the United States. We put an exact amount of money. You put the same. We share the fruits exactly,” he said.
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal and is reposted with permission.
