World · Middle East · 2 hrs ago
Blinken and Pompeo Say US-Israel Ties Can Survive Aid Cutoff
Former US secretaries of state Antony Blinken and Mike Pompeo said ending military aid would not break US-Israel ties at a joint appearance in Washington.
Their comments followed President Donald Trump’s statement that about $4 billion in annual US aid to Israel would be cut off at the end of the year.
Pompeo said he did not know how the administration would carry that out, and noted that Washington and Jerusalem had discussed the level and form of assistance.
He argued that the partnership matters more than the specific aid payment, much of which is used to buy US weapons.
Blinken also criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinian civilians during the Gaza war, while saying its target was Hamas and that this differed from intending to harm civilians.
He warned that US attitudes toward Israel are at an inflection point, including among young Democrats, Republicans and evangelicals.
The two former officials defended Israel’s right to respond to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, but how the aid decision will be carried out remains unclear.
Former US secretaries of state Antony Blinken and Mike Pompeo said an expected end to US military aid to Israel would not damage the countries’ broader relationship.
They spoke at a joint appearance in Washington after President Donald Trump said about $4 billion in annual aid would be cut off at the end of the year.
Pompeo said the nature of the US-Israel relationship mattered more than whether the aid continued.
Blinken criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza while saying its aim was to target Hamas, not eliminate Palestinians.
Both former officials defended Israel’s right to respond to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.
- Who
- Former US secretaries of state Antony Blinken and Mike Pompeo.
- What
- They said ending US military aid to Israel would not harm the broader relationship between the countries.
- When
- Sunday. The article was published on November 9, 2026.
- Where
- Washington, at the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly.
- Why
- They discussed the expected end of US military aid after President Donald Trump said the aid would be cut off. The reason for the proposed cutoff is not stated.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Hamas-led attackers carried out an attack on Israel.
Trump said about $4 billion in annual US aid to Israel would be cut off at the end of the year.
Blinken and Pompeo spoke at the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly in Washington.
- Annual US aid
- About $4 billion
- Proposed cutoff
- At the end of the year
- Appearance location
- Washington
- Event
- Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly
- Blinken’s term as secretary of state
- 2021 to 2025
- Pompeo’s term as secretary of state
- 2018 to 2021
What people are saying
whether we provide that particular money, there will still be deep connectivity.
There was a certain amount of disregard, a certain amount of disdain for the well-being of the Palestinian civilians.
That is vastly different, vastly different from an intent to do them harm, from an intent to eliminate them.
you’re going to be losing young Republicans, young evangelicals.
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Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken: We have to be able to acknowledge the rightness of Israel's imperative to respond after October 7th. We also have to be able to acknowledge the horror of the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza in the many days thereafter.
Mike Pompeo tells the Jewish Federations of North America that Trump's pledge to cut off $4B in aid to Israel won't matter because America's "institutional relationships" with the Jewish state are "unbreakable." "Those institutional relationships are deep and unbreakable, and