US President Donald Trump said Israel would not have survived without American support, asserting that his administration’s military action against Iran prevented the country from being “terminated.”
Trump made the remarks hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival in Washington for high-level talks at the White House on Tuesday.
“You know who wouldn’t survive without us? Israel,” Trump said. He added: “If I didn’t get involved, and if I didn’t blow up those soon-to-be nuclear weapons—the dust, as I call it—Israel would’ve been terminated months ago and years ago.”
The two leaders are expected to discuss the conflict with Iran, a framework agreement for peace in Lebanon and efforts to expand the Abraham Accords, according to a White House official.
Trump’s comments contrast with recent statements by Netanyahu, who earlier in July said Israel intends to begin phasing out US financial assistance, arguing that its economy is strong enough to stand alone.
“I want to stop American aid. It’s like welfare; I don’t want it,” Netanyahu said in a video. “Our economy is no longer a small economy… we can finance ourselves with this fraction of a per cent of our GDP that we receive from the United States. I want this process to start this year.”
The remarks come amid ongoing US-backed operations that Washington has said destroyed Iran’s capability to produce a nuclear weapon, underscoring the close but sometimes strained strategic alliance between the two countries.
