JERUSALEM, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published on Friday that he hopes to "taper off" Israeli dependence on U.S. military aid in the next decade.
Netanyahu has said Israel should not be reliant on foreign military aid but has stopped short of declaring a firm timeline for when Israel would be fully independent from Washington.
"I want to taper off the military within the next 10 years," Netanyahu told the Economist. Asked if that meant a tapering "down to zero," he said: "Yes."
Netanyahu said he told President Donald Trump during a recent visit that Israel "very deeply" appreciates "the military aid that America has given us over the years, but here too we've come of age and we've developed incredible capacities."
In December, Netanyahu said Israel would spend 350 billion shekels ($110 billion) on developing an independent arms industry to reduce dependency on other countries.
In 2016, the U.S. and Israeli governments signed a memorandum of understanding for the 10 years through September 2028 that provides $38 billion in military aid, $33 billion in grants to buy military equipment and $5 billion for missile defence systems.
Israeli defence exports rose 13% last year, with major contracts signed for Israeli defence technology including its advanced multi-layered aerial defence systems.
U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Israel supporter and close ally of Trump, said on X that "we need not wait ten years" to begin scaling back military aid to Israel.
"The billions in taxpayer dollars that would be saved by expediting the termination of military aid to Israel will and should be plowed back into the U.S. military," Graham said. "I will be presenting a proposal to Israel and the Trump administration to dramatically expedite the timetable."
(Reporting by Emily Rose. Editing by William Mallard and Mark Potter)
