Midterms Showed US Voters Want To Break Up With Israel

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Second, Trump's acknowledgment that the Iran War had hurt Republicans exposed the very Israel connection that Vance was prepared to articulate more openly.

The war on Iran was not America's war. It was Netanyahu's war, pursued as part of his longstanding quest to dominate the Middle East, with Washington paying the military, economic, and political price.

This is hardly hyperbole. Netanyahu has repeatedly presented Iran as an existential enemy, while his far-right allies have openly celebrated American military involvement.

Ironically, Washington's own 2026 National Defense Strategy had identified defending the US homeland and asserting American interests throughout the Western Hemisphere as its foremost priorities. Yet the administration plunged into another devastating Middle Eastern war.

Thanks to independent journalists and analysts operating outside mainstream media, Americans have become increasingly aware of the damage this relationship has inflicted on their country's economy, military standing, and international reputation.

According to Quinnipiac University, 48% of registered American voters now believe the US is too supportive of Israel, compared with just 16% in January 2017. This growing awareness, coupled with the seismic shift in Congress following the midterms, is still not enough to guarantee tangible and irreversible change.

The midterm results nevertheless offer a major ray of hope that America is not a lost cause after all, and that ordinary people possess enough knowledge and determination to challenge the powerful interests, mega donors, and shadowy agendas shaping their country's foreign policy.

There is a fundamental lesson here: Americans can no longer be satisfied with empty promises. And this brings us back to Trump's announcement.

Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance, with the Council on Foreign Relations estimating that American aid since 1948 has exceeded $300 billion, adjusted for inflation.

That staggering figure, however, hardly tells half the story. Washington has consistently found ways to finance Israel's wars beyond the declared annual military assistance of $3.8 billion.

For example, in April 2024, President Joe Biden signed emergency legislation providing Israel with an additional $8.7 billion in direct military assistance, separate from the regular annual allocation. The money included $3.5 billion in additional Foreign Military Financing and $5.2 billion for missile defense programs.

These extraordinary funding mechanisms demonstrate how Washington can continue financing Israel's military even when regular assistance becomes politically controversial.

And that is only part of the picture. Congress has been considering proposals to expand US-Israeli defense technology cooperation, potentially shifting more spending into Pentagon research, development, and procurement accounts.

In essence, Israel could continue benefiting from billions in American military spending without those expenditures being labeled conventional foreign aid.

What Trump appears to be offering, therefore, is a sleight of hand: Remove the politically damaging label of aid while preserving, and potentially expanding, the military relationship itself.