MK Boaz Bismuth has also called for a meeting with the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Secret Services, and Defense, to discuss the implications of the recent developments in Iran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene a meeting with senior defense officials on Sunday, following a situational assessment on the ongoing anti-regime protests in Iran.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Boaz Bismuth has also called for a meeting on Wednesday with the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Secret Services, and Defense, to discuss the implications of the recent developments in Iran.
“Israel is closely monitoring developments in Iran,” Netanyahu said during an earlier Sunday cabinet meeting. “Pro-freedom protests have spread across the country. The people of Israel, and the entire world, are watching in awe at the extraordinary courage of the citizens of Iran.”
“Israel supports their struggle for freedom and strongly condemns the mass slaughter of innocent civilians,” he went on, voicing hope that the “Persian nation will soon be freed from the yoke of tyranny.”
“I hope that one day there will be peace with Iran, and that we will be able to return to establishing regional peace.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a 40 signatures debate, at the plenum hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on January 5, 2026. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
He also referred to an interview he gave toThe Economist over the weekend, in which he said that Israel intends to gradually reduce the $3.8 billion it receives annually in US military aid, with the aim of ending the assistance entirely within the next decade.
“I expect that within a decade we will reach a trillion-dollar economy,” Netanyahu said. “The freer the economy is, and the more it is released from bureaucratic constraints, this will make it possible to increase investment in Israel’s defense programs by an additional approximately NIS 350 billion within a decade. Just as I reduced dependence on economic aid from the United States, so too I want to reduce security assistance within a decade.”
Netanyahu said that Israel has reached a stage of “economic and security maturity” that allows it to become more self-reliant.
“We receive military aid on a large scale and appreciate it very much,” he said. “During my visit with President Trump, I told him that we deeply appreciate the assistance given to us over the years, but here too we have matured and developed enormous capabilities.”
Netanyahu emphasizes the funding strategy is apolitical
He emphasized that the planned change in funding strategy is not political.
“That does not mean that I am not fighting for the support and loyalty of the American people – on the contrary,” Netanyahu said. “You would have to be crazy not to do that.”
When asked whether the ultimate goal is to reduce the aid to zero, he responded: “Yes. It is a dramatic change, and it is already underway.”