Vivek Ramaswamy, a long-shot contender for the Republican presidential nomination, said in an interview that the United States should reduce its aid to Israel, JTA reported.
The comments were made in an interview Ramaswamy gave on Rumble, a platform popular with far-right viewers. Ramaswamy said in the interview that Israel should not get more aid than its Middle Eastern neighbors after 2028, the year that the current US aid package of $38 billion expires.
He said that he would expand the Abraham Accords, the normalization deals between Israel and Arab countries. After Israel is “more integrated” with its neighboring countries, Ramaswamy said, Israel should be able to stand “on its own two feet” financially.
“Come 2028, that additional aid won’t be necessary in order to still have the kind of stability that we’d actually have in the Middle East by having Israel more integrated in with its partners,” he was quoted as having said.
Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur and investor, appeared on comedian-turned-podcaster Russell Brand’s video show on Rumble. The comments on aid to Israel were a response to a viewer question.
He argued that Israel should not receive preferential treatment from the United States, even though “our relationship with Israel has advanced American interests” over time.
“There’s no North Star commitment to any one country, other than the United States of America,” Ramaswamy said, as quoted by JTA.
Ramaswamy mentioned Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Indonesia as countries he would target as Abraham Accords partners.
The policy point separates Ramaswamy from prominent candidates such as Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, but puts him line with a growing number of voices from across the ideological spectrum who say Israel should no longer get as much from the United States as it has.
Most of the calls to reduce aid to Israel have come from the left-wing side of the political map, with lawmakers such as Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggesting that the US condition at least some aid to Israel.
More recently, centrists and people on the right have joined in openly considering reducing aid to Israel. One of the more prominent lawmakers who has acted towards that is Senator Rand Paul, who has also delayed aid to other countries.
Ramaswamy’s popularity is on the rise and he is now close behind DeSantis in national polls. A Fox News survey published Wednesday found that 11% of respondents support him, compared to 16% for DeSantis. However, both are far behind Trump, who won 53% of support in that poll.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)