Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his aim to taper off Israeli reliance on American aid, discussed Israel’s public perception crisis, and touched upon ongoing anti-regime protests in Iran during an interview with The Economist published on Friday.
For the first time in public, Netanyahu revealed that he may not seek to fully renew the 3.8 billion dollar American military assistance package that Israel receives annually. The package is due for renegotiation in 2028.
Netanyahu told The Economist that he plans to fully taper reliance on American support to zero within the next ten years, a move he claimed is already “in progress.”
The prime minister additionally assured that he “will continue to fight for the allegiance of the American people.”
Netanyahu also mentioned that he wants Israel to be “as independent as possible,” stating that reduced reliance on American financial aid may help in Israel’s fight to preserve a positive public perception.
“I’d like to do everything I can to fight the propaganda war waged against us,” Netanyahu told The Economist.
He described the uphill battle against misinformation as Israel using “cavalry against F-35s,” due to social media being “flooded… with the fake bots and many other things.”
“The vilifications that were delivered on Jewish people are now delivered on to Jewish state,” Netanyahu stated.
He elaborated on the history of the vilification of the Jewish people, recounting that since the Middle Ages, allegations that “we were poisoning the wells, we were spreading vermin, we were slaughtering Christian children for the Passover festival using their blood” have consistently proliferated.
The prime minister added that he believes Israel is held to “an impossible standard” when it comes to international judgment of the Israel-Hamas War, adding that he doubts “that Churchill could pursue World War Two if people saw what happened there.”
The prime minister shared that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas may ease international criticism of the Jewish State, predicting that “ the ease with which propaganda takes over facts, or fact-checking,” may dissipate “the minute the intense fighting stops.”
Netanyahu's comments on the Iranian threat
Netanyahu additionally commented on the Iranian threat and the anti-regime protests that are ongoing across Iran.
When asked about the possibility of regime change, Netanyahu stated that it is not Israel’s goal, but it could be the “consequence of the war.”
He reflected on the impact of the joint US-Israeli strikes that destroyed much of Iran’s nuclear capabilities in June 2025, stating that the strikes had relegated the regime from a preeminent power to a second-rate power.
Netanyahu added that the military defeat faced by Iran during the twelve-day war, paired with the “terrible mismanagement of their domestic affairs,” including “pouring billions and billions into the terror axis” while doing nothing for the benefit of the Iranian people, may have grave implications for the future of the regime.
“These two things are meeting now,” Netanyahu posited, “and it may be a moment where the people of Iran take charge of their own destiny. Revolutions are best done from within.”
Netanyahu denied that Israel has any plans to intervene as the Iranian people have taken to the streets to protest the regime, stating that he believes that close observations of the events in Iran are necessary.
He added that there is “one definite time when [Israel] would resume military activities. “If Iran attacks us, which they might, then there will be horrible consequences for Iran. Everything else, I think we should see what is happening inside Iran.”