Trump's midterm defeat deepens doubts in Israel over US military aid and the alliance

Midterm losses and the aid announcement

Democrats gained ground in the US midterm elections held on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, and the next Congress will have a Democratic majority. On the same day, while voters were still going to the polls, Trump said he had reached an agreement with Israel to end US military financial aid at the end of the year. El País puts the yearly sum at $3.8 billion, while La Stampa puts it at $4 billion. The announcement lacked clarity, a style that El País describes as typical for the president. The same day, Trump described the situation with Iran as neither open conflict nor a peace deal, at a time when Netanyahu had been pushing for war against the Islamic Republic.

Vance's post and the debate over the relationship

On Wednesday, 4 November, Vice President JD Vance posted on X that the Republicans had lost partly because of the war with Iran, which Trump launched in February 2026. Vance also said some voters would return to the Republican side if the party ended the war, addressed the cost of living and inflation, put America first and changed US relations with Israel. The Washington Post reported on Thursday, 5 November, that more Democrats and Republicans now favour ending unconditional US support for Israel, and it described Vance's criticism as the sharpest from leading Republicans since 1991. Donald Trump Jr. backed Vance's position, according to La Stampa. Abdul El-Sayed, a senator-elect from the Democratic Party who made limiting support for Israel a central plank of his campaign, is among those who share the argument.

Reaction in Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu has stayed silent on both the midterm results and the planned end of military aid, El País reports. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was very worried, describing the news as a sudden blow. Israel Hayom asked on its front page where the relationship was heading. Nadav Eyal, one of Israel's leading political commentators, sees a generational shift in the relationship, as a new generation of politicians in both countries replaces those who regarded the alliance as part of their identity. El País reports a feeling in Israel that Netanyahu has lost two elections in one week, the second being the US midterms, after his own coalition was left in a minority in parliament.

What remains open

No source says when the aid end would take effect in detail or how the arrangement would be formalised. La Stampa reports that the incoming Congress will include more progressive and socialist members, and that Troy Jackson in Maine and James Talarico in Texas campaigned for halting arms sales to Israel. Senator Rand Paul is cited among libertarians whose support for Israel has declined. El País adds that some US senators now speak openly of genocide in Gaza or of cutting arms sales to Israel. The Iranian regime, according to El País, has mocked Vance's remarks and burned an image of the leaders who attacked it.