'No abrupt cutoff' to US military aid to Israel, Ambassador Mike Huckabee tells i24NEWS

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee spoke to i24NEWS on Sunday saying that there would be no "abrupt" cutoff of US military aid to Israel, following US President Donald Trump's surprise announcement last Tuesday.

Huckabee said that although the US had not spoken directly with Gadi Eisenkot, who was tasked by Israel's president with forming a government on Sunday, it would work with whomever the people of Israel select to lead their government.

"We're going to work with whoever the government is, because the government will still be the government of the people of Israel and it's our job to represent the United States to the chosen government."

Huckabee addressed Trump's surprise declaration on Tuesday that the US would be cutting military aid to Israel "by the end of the year," saying that "as I know there's no abrupt cutoff."

He added that any end to US aid would require an act of Congress, which is unlikely to occur before the end of the year.

"We still have two years on the MOU, but, you know, again, that's a decision that will be made far from Jerusalem," Huckabee told i24NEWS.

Huckabee also reiterated Trump's statement that the idea to end US aid to Israel was put forward by Netanyahu: "The whole idea of phasing out the aid really was the prime minister's. That was something he started talking about a year and a half ago."