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Vivek Ramaswamy says US should not give Israel more aid than to others in the Middle East
(JTA) — 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.
In an interview on Rumble, a platform popular with far-right viewers, Ramaswamy said Israel should not get more aid than its Middle Eastern neighbors after 2028, the year that the current U.S. 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 said.
The policy point separates Ramaswamy from his two main rivals vying for the nomination — Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, who are staunch supporters of Israel and its military. But it 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.
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.
Ramaswamy’s popularity is on the rise and he is now close behind DeSantis in national polls. A Fox News survey published Wednesday found 11% of respondents support him, compared to 16% for DeSantis and 53% for Trump.
Ramaswamy mentioned Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Indonesia as countries he would target as Abraham Accords partners; while Saudi Arabia is deep in negotiations with Israel and the United States about a possible Israel treaty, Oman recently criminalized relations of any kind with Israel. Indonesia is also noted for its high levels of antisemitism — FIFA, the world soccer body, this year moved its under-20 World Cup from Indonesia to Argentina after the Southeast Asian nation protested Israel’s inclusion in the event.
U.S. aid to Israel has become more of a campaign issue over the past two presidential contests. In the lead-up to the 2020 election, prominent Democrats such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez brought up the idea of conditioning at least some aid over Israel’s policies, particularly those involving the Palestinians.
In May, Rep. Betsy McCollum, a longtime critic of Israel policy, re-introduced a bill that would condition U.S. aid to Israel. Sixteen progressive House representatives co-sponsored the bill, including other prominent Israel critics such as Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal.
More recently, centrists and people on the right have joined in openly considering reducing aid to Israel, though for different reasons. Last month, New York Times columnist Nick Kristof floated ending aid to Israel entirely.
Ramaswamy — who had before his campaign been a leading defender of Donald Trump in his ongoing indictment crises — has also indicated he would pull back funding and military support for other allies, including Ukraine and Taiwan.
He told Jewish Insider in June that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had allowed Jews and other minorities to be mistreated during the country’s war with Russia. Zelensky himself is Jewish.
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
The post Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.