Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Alex Traiman | CEO of Jewish News Syndicate on Trump Announcing Aid to Israel Expires at Year's End
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Let's go to Israel now. Go to Jerusalem.
- 0:02Speaker 2: Alex Trayman is standing by. No more aid to Israel.
- 0:05Speaker 2: That's what Trump said this morning. I'm not upset about it.
- 0:09Speaker 1: I think it's good.
- 0:09Speaker 2: I know you guys don't need the money. I'm sick
- 0:12Speaker 2: of hearing the anti-Semites complain all the time.
- 0:14Speaker 1: Why did we give Israel $ 4 billion? Blah, blah, blah.
- 0:18Speaker 2: Now there's nothing to complain about. What are your thoughts
- 0:21Speaker 2: on Trump's statements, Alex Trayman, this morning?
- 0:25Speaker 3: Well, good morning, Sid. We've known in Israel that it
- 0:29Speaker 3: was going to be time to wind down the military
- 0:32Speaker 3: aid to Israel. It doesn't mean that we are winding
- 0:35Speaker 3: down the defense alliance between Israel and the United States
- 0:39Speaker 3: or the winding down of weapons procurement from the United States,
- 0:44Speaker 3: but we don't need to get money from the United
- 0:46Speaker 3: States in order to buy weapons. People should understand, by
- 0:49Speaker 3: the way, that When we get $ 3. 8 billion a year
- 0:52Speaker 3: to buy weapons, nearly 100% of that money is spent
- 0:56Speaker 3: back in the United States, so it is a subsidy
- 0:58Speaker 3: for the U.S.
- 0:58Speaker 1: Defense industry. Say that again. So, I know I heard
- 1:02Speaker 1: you correctly. I've been saying it all morning long. You
- 1:04Speaker 1: get $ 3.
- 1:04Speaker 2: 8 billion, but the money, in essence, not even in essence,
- 1:09Speaker 2: the money is reinvested in the United States.
- 1:13Speaker 1: Absolutely.
- 1:14Speaker 3: And when Israel, by the way, is forced to buy
- 1:17Speaker 3: equipment in the United States... So Israel is not necessarily
- 1:21Speaker 3: buying that at fair market value, right? The suppliers can say, oh,
- 1:25Speaker 3: you need fuel for an F-35 or you need uniforms.
- 1:29Speaker 3: These are the list prices, and they can give whatever
- 1:32Speaker 3: list prices they want, and Israel is going to buy
- 1:34Speaker 3: it because they have to spend the money in the
- 1:36Speaker 3: United States. So Israel can't say, like, okay, we're going
- 1:39Speaker 3: to buy uniforms in China. They're going to buy them
- 1:42Speaker 3: in the United States because they're getting $ 3. 8 billion to
- 1:43Speaker 3: spend money in the United States. at whatever price they're
- 1:48Speaker 3: being given for the cost of the uniforms that the
- 1:51Speaker 3: soldiers are wearing. So that's something people don't really understand.
- 1:55Speaker 3: But there is a 10-year MOU, a 10-year deal, a
- 2:01Speaker 3: $ 38 billion deal, and that expires in the middle of 2028.
- 2:06Speaker 3: So we know that Israel is going to try to
- 2:10Speaker 3: negotiate some different kind of a deal. Maybe there's some
- 2:13Speaker 3: kind of, let's say, joint deal. U.S.-Israel Defense Fund, where
- 2:17Speaker 3: both Israel and the United States are putting money in
- 2:20Speaker 3: for weapons systems such as the Iron Dome, right? Both
- 2:25Speaker 3: countries are going to put money in. They're going to
- 2:27Speaker 3: do R & D, manufacturing, and Israel gets weapons, and
- 2:31Speaker 3: the United States gets the benefit of that. But we
- 2:34Speaker 3: thought that that was going to be the next MOU,
- 2:37Speaker 3: which was going to be entered into in 2028. So
- 2:40Speaker 3: what Trump is saying here, either it's a mistake or
- 2:43Speaker 3: And he's not going to wind down the aid until
- 2:46Speaker 3: the end of the MOU. Or are you saying, I've
- 2:49Speaker 3: talked to Bibi and we're going to actually cut short
- 2:52Speaker 3: the MOU and we're going to change the arrangement immediately?
- 2:56Speaker 1: But you just said something very important. I talked to Bibi.
- 2:59Speaker 2: So for the idiots out there that are like, President
- 3:01Speaker 2: Trump hates Israel too.
- 3:02Speaker 1: See, he's had enough of Israel. He's cutting them off.
- 3:05Speaker 2: I mean, they're so stupid. I'm tired of calling them stupid.
- 3:09Speaker 2: He's not doing any of that. You just said it.
- 3:11Speaker 2: He probably, he spoke to Bibi, and they came to
- 3:14Speaker 2: this conclusion. No matter what President Trump does, he's speaking
- 3:18Speaker 2: to Bibi, and in the end, Bibi and Israel, they're
- 3:22Speaker 2: going to sign off on this.
- 3:23Speaker 1: He doesn't hate Israel, right?
- 3:27Speaker 3: People don't realize just how much the United States and
- 3:30Speaker 3: Israel are on the same page on everything relating to
- 3:33Speaker 3: military and the U.S.-Israel alliance. It doesn't mean that they
- 3:36Speaker 3: always agree, okay? There could be differences between what Benjamin Netanyahu,
- 3:41Speaker 3: the prime minister of this tiny state in the Middle
- 3:43Speaker 3: East called Israel, thinks is Israel's strategic interest versus what
- 3:47Speaker 3: Donald Trump, the president of the world's greatest superpower in
- 3:50Speaker 3: the United States, feels is in America's interest. Those interests
- 3:53Speaker 3: don't always align perfectly, but more or less on the
- 3:58Speaker 3: big issues, they do align or they reach arrangements. But
- 4:02Speaker 3: the idea that Trump is angry at Bibi, is doing
- 4:06Speaker 3: things that Bibi doesn't want him to do by surprise.
- 4:10Speaker 3: That's ridiculous. I mean, Trump came out and endorsed Bibi
- 4:13Speaker 3: not once but twice. These guys are speaking constantly about
- 4:18Speaker 3: what's going to take place in Iran, potentially in the
- 4:20Speaker 3: next days or weeks or months ahead, and certainly when
- 4:23Speaker 3: it comes to the weapons deal. Between the United States
- 4:27Speaker 3: and Israel, there's no surprises here. Anything that's being announced,
- 4:31Speaker 3: if this is actually going into full effect, has been fully,
- 4:34Speaker 3: fully discussed between the two parties.
- 4:37Speaker 1: And publicly.
- 4:38Speaker 2: So there's no surprise in Israel today. Fox News puts
- 4:41Speaker 2: out the quote like, oh, my God, look at this.
- 4:43Speaker 2: But you and I talked about this months ago. We've
- 4:46Speaker 2: heard it both from Trump and Bibi. So this is
- 4:48Speaker 2: no great surprise today for Israelis, is it?
- 4:52Speaker 3: I don't know if it's a great surprise. I mean,
- 4:54Speaker 3: the timing for Bibi of this announcement is probably not
- 4:57Speaker 3: good as he's trying to form a government in a
- 5:01Speaker 3: very complicated negotiations now that may happen. It could lead
- 5:07Speaker 3: to another election.
- 5:10Speaker 1: Stop you right there. But why is the timing not good?
- 5:13Speaker 2: When Israel, when Bibi says, look, since I've been in power,
- 5:17Speaker 2: we now have the ability to stand on our own
- 5:20Speaker 2: two feet. We don't need the United States to walk
- 5:24Speaker 2: us across the street every single time.
- 5:26Speaker 3: You're totally right. But right now, when we're in this
- 5:31Speaker 3: hypersensitive moment, you know that all the left-wing media, the
- 5:35Speaker 3: anti-Netanyahu media, which is most of the media in Israel,
- 5:38Speaker 3: they're going to spin this and they're going to say, look,
- 5:42Speaker 3: Netanyahu has messed up the relationship with Donald Trump to
- 5:45Speaker 3: the point where Donald Trump surprised Netanyahu and is cutting
- 5:50Speaker 3: off the aid before the end of the MOU. What
- 5:53Speaker 3: a disaster in diplomacy. So even though If not, in reality,
- 5:58Speaker 3: all the headlines are going to be, I'm certain, in
- 6:01Speaker 3: the next hours, all criticizing Netanyahu. But you understand the
- 6:05Speaker 3: timing for Trump because Trump is just ahead of the midterms.
- 6:09Speaker 3: It's on the day of the midterms here. So he's
- 6:13Speaker 3: trying to make Americans know that. Israel's not the tail
- 6:18Speaker 3: wagging the dog of U.S. foreign policy. So that's why
- 6:23Speaker 3: he's making that announcement. So it probably helps Trump in
- 6:25Speaker 3: the midterms. It probably harms Bibi just in terms of
- 6:29Speaker 3: the timing of the announcement. But Sid, I think you
- 6:30Speaker 3: got it 100 percent right. Israel has graduated. Israel was
- 6:35Speaker 3: a developing country, didn't have money. Under Prime Minister Netanyahu
- 6:39Speaker 3: in the last several decades, Israel has emerged as an economic, military,
- 6:45Speaker 3: technological superpower. The $ 3. 8 billion is less than 2% of
- 6:49Speaker 3: the annual GDP in the state of Israel. Israel can
- 6:52Speaker 3: afford to buy any and all weapons it needs to survive,
- 6:56Speaker 3: doesn't need to get aid, even if those aid dollars
- 6:59Speaker 3: are a good investment for the United States and all
- 7:02Speaker 3: those dollars are spent back. in the United States with U.S.
- 7:04Speaker 3: defense industry.
- 7:05Speaker 1: I think you're right, too.
- 7:06Speaker 2: The timing for Trump makes sense. And although it gives
- 7:09Speaker 2: somebody like Abdul El-Sayed something to lie about again today,
- 7:13Speaker 2: like you just said, like they're doing Israel on the left,
- 7:15Speaker 2: and it may hurt Bibi. But again, you know, what
- 7:18Speaker 2: are you going to do with the leftists?
- 7:19Speaker 1: They're lunatics. They're crazy. On the way out, are you
- 7:22Speaker 1: paying very, very close attention? You're a New Yorker, Trayman.
- 7:24Speaker 1: You love the Knicks.
- 7:25Speaker 2: Are you paying very, very close attention, even in Jerusalem today,
- 7:29Speaker 2: to this governor race between Blakeman and Hochul?
- 7:33Speaker 3: Well, absolutely. We're watching very, very closely. For the state
- 7:37Speaker 3: of Israel, the state and the city with the most
- 7:40Speaker 3: Jews outside of the state of Israel is in New York.
- 7:44Speaker 3: So we're watching very, very closely. We care a lot
- 7:47Speaker 3: about the overall safety of the New York Jews and
- 7:52Speaker 3: the U.S. Jewish population in general. And so we are watching.
- 7:57Speaker 3: I think for all Israelis, they want to see What's
- 8:01Speaker 3: happening naturally in New York, I'll tell you, a lot
- 8:03Speaker 3: of people are following this El-Said race here. We think
- 8:06Speaker 3: it's a bellwether for the direction that the United States
- 8:09Speaker 3: is heading, not just today, but in the next several years.
- 8:14Speaker 3: And we want to see if New Yorkers, if Americans...
- 8:17Speaker 3: want to stand up for American and Western values, which
- 8:22Speaker 3: we think align very well with Israel's values. Or are
- 8:27Speaker 3: Americans and New Yorkers going to vote again to sabotage
- 8:31Speaker 3: themselves and their success? And that doesn't bode well for
- 8:34Speaker 3: the United States or for Western civilization or for the
- 8:37Speaker 3: state of Israel.
- 8:37Speaker 2: Boy, you just said it perfectly that the Michigan race
- 8:40Speaker 2: really is that shapes the country that tells you exactly
- 8:44Speaker 2: what direction we're heading. And if he wins, it will
- 8:47Speaker 2: be disastrous. I know it's only one guy, one race
- 8:50Speaker 2: in one state, but it would be disastrous. Alex Trayman,
- 8:54Speaker 2: as always, we call you late out of nowhere and
- 8:57Speaker 2: you hop on and you do an amazing job. I
- 8:59Speaker 2: love you, brother. Thank you for this today. And we'll
- 9:02Speaker 2: talk to you again very, very soon.
- 9:04Speaker 3: Love you too, Sid. Speak to you soon.
- 9:06Speaker 1: God bless you. Alex Trayman right there, the CEO of JNS.org.
- 9:09Speaker 1: And he says what I said. This is not a
- 9:11Speaker 1: big deal. Everybody knew about it.
- 9:13Speaker 2: You know, the timing, like he said, you know, Trump
- 9:15Speaker 2: always wants to try to distance himself just a little
- 9:17Speaker 2: bit from Israel because, you know, he wants to make
- 9:19Speaker 2: sure that he's America first.
- 9:21Speaker 1: You know, I get called, uh, sit Israel first. It's
- 9:23Speaker 1: so stupid. It's so stupid. They do the same thing
- 9:26Speaker 1: to Trump.
- 9:26Speaker 2: So, diss themselves just a little bit on BBSM probably
- 9:29Speaker 2: doesn't help, but in the end, this is not a
- 9:31Speaker 2: big deal, not a big surprise. If anything, if you
- 9:34Speaker 2: are pro-Israel, you stand proud like I am today because
- 9:38Speaker 2: we don't need the help. Okay, bottom line, we don't
- 9:41Speaker 2: need the help from the United States or anybody else.
- 9:43Speaker 1: So they don't need the help, I should say.
- 9:45Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
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- 9:52Speaker 4: So you never have to wonder what the heck is
- 9:54Speaker 4: going on here.