Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he wants to immediately begin phasing out American financial support for Israel’s military in a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday night.
Netanyahu said he wants to draw that aid “down to zero” and do so during the current Congress, adding that he’s said this to President Donald Trump.
“I want to draw down to zero the American financial support, the financial component of the military cooperation that we have,” he said. “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.”
When asked about timing, Netanyahu said that he wants to start the process “now” and that he doesn’t “want to wait for the next Congress.”
Netanyahu also reiterated that the war is not over, saying that there “are still proxies that Iran supports. There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce.” This contradicts a statement made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the week, when he said that Operation Epic Fury is concluded and that the United States has “achieved the objective of that operation.”
When asked about China’s involvement in the war, Netanyahu said that China “gave a certain amount of support and particular components of missile manufacturing” to Iran.
TRUMP SAYS LATEST IRAN PEACE PROPOSAL IS ‘TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE’
The interview aired as the war in Iran continues, with neither side caving to the other’s demands. Netanyahu emphasized that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon during the interview, adding that Trump has told Netanyahu that he wants to “go in” and take Iran’s enriched uranium.
The comments came the same day that Trump rejected Iran’s latest peace proposal, calling it “totally unacceptable.”
