Benjamin Netanyahu is asking for something that sounds almost like heresy in American politics: that US financial military aid to Israel be ended. On CBS „60 Minutes" the prime minister left no room for ambiguity - he doesn't want to wait even for the next Congress. „I want to start now," he said.

The number is significant. Israel receives 3.8 billion dollars a year in American military aid. The total US commitment for the period 2018-2028 is 38 billion dollars. That's financial infrastructure that has held the relationship between the two countries for nearly 60 years. And that's exactly what Netanyahu now wants to wind down.

Why? One logical reason: the Israeli prime minister recognises the political risks. After 7 October 2023 and the start of the Gaza war, support for Israel in the US Congress is no longer bipartisan - parties are split, while the public is even more divided. Democrats are almost openly critical. Even among Republicans, a new generation of isolationists asks „why are we paying for it?" Netanyahu sees that every upcoming election year is riskier than the last.

Second reason: Israel now has industrial and technological power that doesn't depend on US packages. Its own weapons are sold around the world, the Israeli military-industrial complex has standalone revenues of 13 billion dollars a year. „You accept the aid for a decade, then you become the supplier," the saying goes. That's the logic.

But there's a third, quieter story. When you depend on someone else's money, you depend on their boundaries too. Why has the US slowed delivery of 2,000-pound bombs several times since 2024? Why did Congress condition packages with humanitarian clauses for Gaza? Because the money comes with a commentary. Netanyahu wants the commentary to go away.

For the Balkans, this message looks familiar from Balkan history - when a country wants to jump out of the „client-patron" relationship into „partner-partner." The question is whether the conditions for that exist. How much can Israel actually take without 3.8 billion a year? How much does it spend on the missile shield, intelligence satellites, F-35 squadrons? The numbers aren't disconnected from the package - they're built around it. And saying „now" before alternatives are built is either political courage or political delusion. Time will show which is which.