For years, Palestinians – along with Israeli human rights activists – have urged the United States to condition its military aid to Israel on compliance with international law, or simply to enforce the existing US laws that prohibit assistance to foreign security forces responsible for serious violations of international law. In other words, they have called on Washington to suspend that aid, or at the very least use it as leverage to pressure Israel to change its conduct.Now, as the United States heads toward pivotal midterm elections, the political landscape appears to be shifting. Public opinion has changed in the wake of extensive documentation of the crimes against humanity that Israel has committed in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank, particularly the enormous number of civilians killed by Israeli forces over the past two and a half years, as well as widespread public opposition to the war with Iran. Against this backdrop, the needle has finally begun to move within the Democratic Party: 103 Democratic members of Congress voted in favour of halting the billions of dollars in annual U.S. military aid to Israel.At first glance, this should be a moment of celebration. But even if the measure had not been defeated and had instead passed Congress, it would still have been too little, too late.Egypt, the second-largest recipient of U.S. military aid after Israel, depends heavily on that assistance because of its fragile economy. The aid is essential to sustaining its military-backed authoritarian regime. Israel, however, is in an entirely different position. During the 1970s and 1980s, Israel faced severe economic difficulties and chronic shortages of foreign currency, making American military assistance indispensable.The practical importance of aid has declinedSince the early 2000s, however, its practical importance has steadily declined. Its principal value became symbolic: a visible expression of the strategic alliance between the two countries. In practical terms, the aid amounted to only a small fraction of Israel’s economy – an annual bonus from Uncle Sam. By comparison, Israel’s foreign currency reserves stood at $238 billion at the end of May 2026.It was an especially generous bonus. Even before the war that began on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s military spending had been expanding year after year, driven in particular by soaring personnel costs. By 2020, salaries and pensions alone already accounted for roughly 40% of the overall defense budget.Even before the war and before the public opinion in the US began shifting on military aid to Israel, Israeli political and security officials had already been debating whether the country should finally “grow up” and stop accepting American military assistance. As public and political criticism in the United States intensified over Israel’s conduct during its multi-front war over the past two and a half years, that discussion increasingly ceased to be theoretical. The prospect of ending the aid began to look inevitable.In several interviews with American media outlets, as well as in statements posted on social media, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that U.S. military aid should eventually come to an end – albeit gradually – while stopping short of committing to a firm timetable. Yet from a purely economic standpoint, he could announce tomorrow that Israel will not seek a successor agreement when the current US-Israel memorandum of understanding, signed during president Barack Obama’s administration, expires in 2028 – or even end the aid sooner.Netanyahu appears unwilling to do so for two reasons. The first is simple: if Israel can continue receiving free gifts from American taxpayers for a few more years, why not postpone the inevitable? The second, and perhaps more important, is political. Announcing a near-term end to US military aid would hand the Democratic Party a victory while potentially angering President Trump and the Republican Party.The dispute over aid benefits both Trump and Netanyahu because it deepens divisions within the Democratic Party just before the midterm elections. The result is an absurd situation: the Democratic Party is locked in a battle over yesterday’s issue, with Democratic members of Congress fighting to preserve military assistance that Israel no longer truly needs.Israel’s vast arsenal of US weaponsIn 2026, Israel’s real question is no longer whether it will continue receiving free American military aid. The far more important question is whether it will remain free to use, without meaningful restrictions, the vast arsenal of US weapons it has already received, along with the American-made components essential to manufacturing Israeli weapons systems, and whether it will still be able to purchase those weapons and components with Israeli taxpayers’ money.Given that the US elections are focused largely on competing proposals for addressing the affordability crisis, many advocates of ending military aid to Israel argue that the money would be better spent on health care, housing and education for Americans, alongside the moral argument that the United States is complicit in crimes committed in the Middle East.But parents in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon whose children have been killed or wounded by Israeli security forces care little whether the American rifle or other weapon used against them was paid for by American taxpayers or purchased directly with Israeli taxpayers’ money. Debates about affordability in the United States or Israel are irrelevant to them. They simply want their children to stay alive and have the chance to build their lives – and they want other children, relatives and neighbors to be spared death or life-altering injuries.It took American lawmakers decades to begin questioning military aid to Israel. Parents in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank do not have the luxury of waiting decades more for Congress to awaken again – this time to restrict new arms sales to Israel and impose meaningful limits on its use of the American weapons systems and components it already possesses. Until that happens, even if US military aid were to end tomorrow morning, Israel’s war-crimes machine would remain fully capable of operating at full force.Eitay Mack is an Israeli lawyer and human rights activist.