US under Trump cuts all foreign aid except to Israel, Egypt
The US State Department has cut all foreign aid, except to the Israeli regime and Egypt, days after President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order to freeze assistance worldwide.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent an internal memo Friday, days after Trump took office vowing an "America First" policy of tightly restricting assistance overseas.
"No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved," said the memo reported by news agencies.
It came after Trump on Monday issued multiple orders for executive action, including putting a hold on all US foreign assistance for 90 days.
The sweeping order appears to affect everything from development assistance to military aid, including to Ukraine, which received billions of dollars in weapons under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden in its war with Russia.
The order by the US State Department, however, provides a waiver for foreign military aid to the Israeli regime and Egypt.
Last year, the US Congress passed a whopping $95 billion aid package for the Israeli regime, Ukraine, and Taiwan.
There was no mention of Ukraine and Taiwan in the waiver. In his executive order, Trump stated that the US “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.”
In an interview aired Thursday night, Trump suggested that Ukraine under President Volodymyr Zelensky should not have fought with Russia.
"Zelenskyy was fighting a much bigger entity, much bigger, much more powerful," Trump told Fox News. "He shouldn’t have done that, because we could have made a deal."
Biden, who was in office when the war started, consistently emphasized his alliance with Ukraine, pushing for aid packages for the country and praising Zelensky's leadership.
There is about $3.85 billion in congressionally authorized funding for any future arms shipments to Ukraine and it is now up to Trump to decide whether or not to spend it.
The Biden administration also provided over $22 billion in aid to the Israeli military after it launched a massive onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023.
Trump is expected to step up the aid. Among the host of his executive orders signed on Monday was the lifting of sanctions imposed on more than 30 Israeli settler groups and entities by the Biden administration.
Israel is the biggest recipient of the US aid in history, having received $158 billion in military grants from the United States since 1948.
US threatens Taliban leaders with ‘big bounty’ over detained Americans
EU military chief wants European troops in Greenland after US
Ansarullah condemns US decision to blacklist it as terrorist organization
International community must compel Israel to withdraw from Lebanon: Parliament speaker
‘We’ll return’: Defiant Lebanese head home in south as Israeli forces refuse to withdraw
VIDEO | Press TV's News Headlines
Freedom of Palestinian abductees, across factions, reflects unity of cause
Iran's hard choice on FATF conundrum
Freedom at last: Palestinians freed under swap deal renew allegiance to resistance
Euro-Med condemns Switzerland’s arrest of journalist Abunimah, urges release
VIDEO | Lebanon resistance unifying factor against Israel
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
