The administration of US President Donald Trump intends to end the $4 billion in annual financial assistance provided to Israel for the purchase of American weapons as soon as possible, APA reports.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the remarks while speaking to journalists in Paris.
According to Rubio, Trump believes that Israel is now a sufficiently wealthy and economically strong country to purchase American weapons using its own funds.
"The president believes that Israel is now wealthy and prosperous enough to buy weapons," Rubio said.
The Secretary of State noted that Washington and Tel Aviv are currently negotiating a new memorandum of understanding on the issue.
"The president wants the financing component to end as soon as possible. We are conducting our discussions on the memorandum accordingly," he emphasized.
According to Rubio, Israel may continue purchasing weapons from the United States, but Washington should no longer finance those purchases.
"They can buy weapons from us, but we should no longer provide funding for that. The Israeli side itself has proposed this," the Secretary of State said.
Asked by journalists whether the new mechanism could be introduced as early as 2027, Rubio said Trump supports precisely such an approach.
He added that Israel also has its own weapons manufacturing capabilities and that the proposed memorandum could include joint military production between the two countries.
"But when it comes to financing, Israel has clearly moved beyond that stage," Rubio noted.
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