# The Heritage Foundation backs phasing out Israel aid to 'reduce US leverage' | Fox News

## Direct aid to Israel should be phased out to 'reduce US leverage,' influential conservative groups argue

### The report also calls for an increase in spending on US-Israeli joint programs

By  |  | Published March 13, 2025 4:53pm EDT

[](https://www.foxnews.com/video/6369969170112)

A new report from the conservative Heritage Foundation calling for the U.S. to phase out direct aid to Israel in favor of a "strategic partnership" is facing backlash from pro-Israel advocates.

But the report’s authors tell Fox News Digital they’ve been misunderstood. The "best thing"  would not be to leave them at the mercy of U.S. policymakers who can choose to withhold direct aid, they say.

"Our goal is actually to reduce U.S. leverage over Israel. I don't want to force them to do stuff," said Victoria Coates, deputy national security advisor to President Donald Trump during the first administration and co-author of the report.

"We want them to do stuff because we have a strong partnership and they have confidence that the United States is their best partner, but we don't want that to be because we bought and paid for them," she explained in an interview with Fox News Digital.

### TRUMP SOFTENS GAZA STANCE, SAYS PALESTINIANS WILL NOT BE EXPELLED FROM THE WAR-TORN TERRITORY

A current memorandum of understanding  signed in 2016 stipulates that the U.S. provides Israel  per year until 2028. Congress allocated a supplemental $9 billion in 2024 for Israel’s war against Hamas.

The memorandum must be renegotiated in 2026, which Heritage argues will allow Israel's relationship with the U.S. to evolve from "primarily a security aid recipient" to that of a "true strategic partnership."

The  calls for a new MOU that increases Israeli aid to $4 billion from fiscal year 2029-2032, and requires all of it be spent on equipment made in the U.S., before decreasing that number by $250 million per year until it ends in FY 2047.

The plan calls for a $250 million per year increase in the amount of weapons the U.S. sells to Israel, until Israel is buying $2.25 billion worth of U.S.-made defense goods by 2047.

Heritage also calls for an increase in intelligence sharing and joint counterterrorism measures, establishing a cybersecurity partnership, loosening export controls and establishing "high-level economic dialogue."

It also said the U.S. should condition aid to Palestinians on "robust deradicalization and disengagement programming in Palestinian territories to undo decades of antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda."

In response to the backlash against the report, Coates added: "The outburst of antisemitism here in the United States, you know, the attacks on Israel, showed that there's a lot of work to do here."

"Rather than trying to tear us down for contributing, you know, maybe, maybe we should look more to getting after the substance of these issues, instead of instituting a circular firing squad."

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