The recent controversy over a Heritage Foundation paper calling for the gradual elimination of U.S. aid to Israel was preceded by a 10-day visit to Washington by Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi, who promoted a similar proposal on Capitol Hill and beyond last month.

Halevi, an MK from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party, spoke with Republican members of Congress, addressed the Hudson Institute, attended the Conservative Political Action Committee conference and met with Heritage Foundation leadership, accompanied by another advocate for reducing U.S. aid, Gideon Israel, president of the Jerusalem-Washington Center, which advises right-leaning figures on U.S.-Israel relations.

The Likud MK was scheduled to meet with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, but when he became aware of what Halevi was advocating, the ambassador canceled the meeting, a source with knowledge of the matter told JI. That cancellation came weeks before Leiter pulled out of a Heritage event scheduled for Wednesday, after learning that the organization planned to present its plan to move away from an aid model.

During his visit to Washington, Halevi distributed pamphlets titled: “A Great Israel – A Greater America. Ending Aid. Expanding Sovereignty.” He called for an even shorter interim period than Heritage, which said that U.S. military aid should be phased out by 2048; he said that within a decade, it should be “replac[ed] with a model that strengthens bilateral cooperation,” including jointly funded research-and-development projects in defense, cybersecurity and intelligence.

Israel currently receives $3.3 billion annually in U.S. foreign aid, which is set to continue until 2028. Negotiations for the next decade’s aid are likely to begin next year, as the previous Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2016.

According to Halevi’s pamphlet, the military aid “creates a false narrative of dependency, weakens Israel’s global standing and subjects it to political pressure. In reality, U.S. support for Israel is a strategic investment, delivering immense value for every dollar received.”

The Heritage Foundation has also been in contact in recent months with the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, whose fellows have written in favor of transitioning away from military aid. (Disclosure: The reporter is a senior fellow at the Misgav Institute.)

Halevi’s view breaks somewhat of a taboo in Israeli politics. Within Likud, its main purveyor for years was Moshe Feiglin, a former lawmaker who won the seat representing settlements in the party primary, who later formed his own libertarian party that didn’t make it into the Knesset. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also called for Israel to “be independent” in his first election campaign, though not after that. While the idea of reducing or eliminating U.S. aid is still rarely discussed in Israel, those who have expressed support for it tend to have an American background — though Halevi does not — such as Bennett, former ambassador and MK Michael Oren and right-wing pundit-turned-Netanyahu advisor Caroline Glick.

Though the Israeli government signaled its disapproval of the idea, Halevi, as chairman of the Knesset Subcommittee on Defense Strategy and Readiness, has also held a series of hearings to discuss the possibility of phasing out aid.

Earlier this week, JI interviewed Halevi at a synagogue event in Modi’in, Israel, where he spoke about his reasons for wanting the change.

“I think that [aid] causes damage to Israel,” Halevi said. 

Halevi said that the aid leads to “pressure on Israel over all the years on our vital interests. You get money, so you need to do this and this and this.”

That dynamic, the Likud MK said, is “not something new … but the climax was with the Biden administration … You all heard Biden’s ‘don’t,’ so there were many ‘don’ts’ over the years and they were towards [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and our government.” 

Halevi described the holdup of some weapons deliveries to Israel as an “embargo” that began on Jan. 16, 2024. As part of his subcommittee, Halevi followed the ammunitions’ deliveries and received phone calls from IDF commanders saying they didn’t have what they needed. He contacted the Defense Ministry official responsible for the contracts with the U.S. to ask what’s happening, and she told him that even deliveries on contracts signed before the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel were being withheld.

The Defense Ministry official told Halevi that the State Department contacts gave repeated excuses for not granting export licenses for the arms — first someone was on vacation, then someone was home with sick children. “That’s the way it worked for months,” Halevi said.

At that time, the Biden administration did not want Israel to enter the densely populated city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, and then-President Joe Biden, concerned about the possibility of civilian deaths, threatened that Israel would be alone if it moved forward. 

“The aid pressure on Israel’s vital interest is that Washington can cut off arms shipments during a war. It’s blackmail,” Halevi said.

The Likud MK also argued that dependence on U.S. aid makes Israel look weak: “It harms our international standing, our credit in many dimensions.” 

The U.S.-Israel defense relationship is one of a partnership, Halevi said. As an example, he recounted that when he was following up on the shortage of ammunition, he found that one part of Israel’s military had everything it needed — the Air Force.

“So, I’m in my subcommittee, all the divisions came and said ‘we have problems,’ and then [Brig.-Gen.] Omer Tischler, the Air Force’s commander, said … the Americans gave me everything. So after the committee, I made some phone calls, and this is what I found. Lockheed Martin realized that if one F-35 or F-15 falls in battle, it’s not just an Israeli problem,” Halevi said. “There is an Israeli Air Force team in the United States that on a [regular] basis updates Lockheed Martin teams about all the lessons or improvements that need to be made … In this war, the Israeli Air Force has an exclusive store. [The IAF] is like a laboratory.” 

“What I’m saying is, we’re already partners anyway. This is our contribution to America, and there are many other ways, also,” he said.

Instead of aid, Halevi called to “shift to a partnership model” in which the $3.3 billion the U.S. gives to Israel each year would be put into binational funds to finance “mega projects” for defense, modeled after the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation for cooperation in technology and other sectors.

“We got used to dependency. It’s an illness. You can be addicted to this,” he warned. “It led to the fact that on Oct. 7, Netanyahu’s first conversation, at 12 o’clock, was to President Joe Biden of America, and he said to him …’ammunition, ammunition, ammunition.’…We need to be more independent and have a more independent military industry. We need to take this stain off of our partnership.”

Halevi said that now is a good time to make the change, which he said should be gradual, because of the Trump administration’s close relationship with the current government in Israel.

This story was updated to correct the yearly military aid the U.S. gives to Israel. It’s $3.3 billion a year, excluding missile defense assistance.