It was, by most accounts, not a friendly conversation. On Monday evening, US President Donald Trump got on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and by the time it was over, the Israeli leader had been told, in no uncertain terms, to stand down. The call, first reported by Axios and attributed to two US officials and a third source briefed on the exchange, centred on Israel's escalating military campaign in Lebanon and Netanyahu's reported plans to strike Hezbollah targets in Beirut. What unfolded was one of the most heated exchanges between the two leaders since Trump returned to office.
A US official's summary of Trump's remarks to Netanyahuread: 'You're fking crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.' A second source said Trump was 'pissed' and at one point yelled: 'What the fk are you doing?'
JUST IN: AXIOS REPORTS TRUMP REPORTEDLY BECAME FURIOUS & EXPLODED AT NETANYAHU DURING LATEST CALLTrump reportedly became FURIOUS and told Netanyahu:“You’re fucking crazy.”“You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me.”“I’m saving your ass.”“Everybody hates you now.…pic.twitter.com/leiHwvcP8Z
The timing of the call was not coincidental. Earlier that same Monday, Iran hadwarnedit could resume direct confrontation if Israel continued its military campaign in Lebanon — a signal that Netanyahu's moves were putting more than just the ceasefire at risk. The US-Iran negotiations, which Trump had been carefully shepherding, were now in danger of collapsing entirely.
One official said this was one of Trump's worst calls with Netanyahu since he returned to office, and that Trump's anger was driven by the fact that Netanyahu's decision to escalate in Lebanon was threatening to implode his negotiations with Iran.
Before the call, a senior US official had already told Axios that Trump felt Netanyahu's threats to strike Beirut were going too far. After it ended, Trumppostedon Truth Social that he had spoken with Netanyahu and that 'there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back.'
The reference to prison was not throwaway. Sources told Axios that Trump invoked his public backing of Netanyahu during the Israeli leader's ongoing corruption trial — framing his support as a personal favour now being squandered. That context matters.
Over the past year, Trump had gone to considerable lengths to defend Netanyahu publicly. In posts on his Truth Social platform, TrumpcalledNetanyahu's corruption trial a 'TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE' and wrote: 'It was the United States of America that saved Israel, and now it is going to be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu.'
Netanyahu has consistentlydeniedthe allegations against him, branding them a 'witch hunt.' The charges include bribery, fraud and breach of trust across three separate cases.
By Tuesday, pushback had arrived from Jerusalem. A member of Netanyahu's staff admitted to Channel 12 that the call had been 'tense,' butdeniedcore elements of the Axios report, including the claim that Trump had cursed at Netanyahu personally or accused him of being hated around the world.
Source: International Business Times UK
