Press in Belgium, Germany, Israel and Egypt reads Trump's Election Day announcement on aid to Israel differently

US President Donald Trump announced on 3 November 2026, Election Day, in a phone call with the broadcaster Fox News that military aid to Israel of around 4 billion US dollars a year would end at the end of the year. Newspapers in several countries focus above all on the timing. Their readings diverge.

Belgium: incomprehensible timing. La Libre Belgique calls the announcement at 18:17 CET a thunderclap in the middle of the congressional election. The researcher Elvire Fabry of the Institut Jacques Delors says there that this will no longer win Trump any votes so late. “Le timing est incompréhensible et décalé” (the timing is incomprehensible and out of place). She reads the move rather as a signal to Iran.

Germany: no coincidence. In a dpa report on t-online from 18:46 CET, Yaakov Katz, formerly editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, writes that the publication on Election Day is no coincidence. Trump apparently assumes that it will help the Republicans in close Senate races. The report also cites sharp criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the Israeli opposition.

Israel: surprised. The Times of Israel reports that finance and defence officials were taken by surprise. A senior official of the defence establishment told the broadcaster Kan: “We did not expect this announcement, certainly not today”. The newspaper refers to a Quinnipiac poll from June in which 48 percent of US voters and 66 percent of Democrats consider the US too pro-Israel. In the interview, Trump named the Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed from Michigan.

Egypt: a shift, not a break. Sada Elbalad reads the announcement as a sign of a growing dispute between Washington and Israel over Iran. According to the newspaper, however, this does not necessarily mean that the alliance is breaking apart.

These are the newspapers' opinions. Further voices from abroad are under Reports.