President Donald Trump is getting frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to reports from Axios and ABC News. He’s so frustrated with the Israeli leader that he lashed out at him over the phone Monday, one report said.
A report from Axios cited two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call. One of the officials told the outlet that Trump told Netanyahu: “I’m saving your as**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
“This,” refers to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. When Trump announced in late February that the U.S. had joined Israel to attack Iran, his administration said the fighting would be over quickly.
This week, we entered yet another month of fighting. Though the U.S. and Iran have been working on a peace deal, it has been derailed, most recently by Israeli actions in Lebanon. NBC News reported that the Israeli military launched new deadly strikes on Lebanon Tuesday after accusing Iran-backed military group Hezbollah of launching attacks overnight, even through Trump reportedly halted Israel’s plans to strike Beirut, the Lebanese capital.
In his call with Netanyahu, Trump also reportedly told the prime minister that he would be “in prison” if it wasn’t for Trump, referring to his support of Netanyahu during a corruption trial. Trump also reportedly told Netanyahu: “You’re f***ing crazy.”
Another source also said that Trump spouted expletives at Natanyahu during the call. While one of the U.S. officials cited by Axios said that Trump acknowledged attacks on Israel from Hezbollah, they said the president told Netanyahu Israel was escalating the conflict in a disproportionate way.
“Trump was concerned by the fact that Israel had killed so many civilians in Lebanon, and objected to the Israelis knocking down buildings to take out a single Hezbollah commander,” said Axios, citing one of the officials.
According to the outlet, Trump and Netanyahu have had tense calls in the past while maintaining close coordination. However, one of the officials it cited said the Monday call was one of the worst he has had with the Israeli leader since Trump returned to office.
Here at home, fighting in the Middle East has contributed to stubbornly high gas prices through the spring. Iran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a key transportation route for much of the world’s oil. By March, average gas prices climbed over $4 per gallon, and they remained there as of Tuesday, per AAA data.
With high gas prices and general inflation, Americans have been concerned about the economy, and that’s lead to falling approval ratings for Trump. Last month, his approval rating on the economy dropped to a record low.
Approval ratings trackers from The Silver Bulletin and The Economist showed that Trump’s approval rating was still in a rough place this week. The Economist even said Trump “became the most unpopular president since our poll started in 2009,” this week and The Silver Bulletin noted that support for the war in Iran has dropped nine points since it started, and support wasn’t exactly strong back then either.
“Trump’s anger appeared to be driven by the fact that Netanyahu's decision to escalate in Lebanon was threatening to implode his negotiations with Iran,” Axios explained. It also noted that Trump posted on Truth Social that the Iran talks were “continuing, at a rapid pace,” after the call.
Meanwhile, Axios also reported that Netanyahu released a statement after the call saying he'd told Trump that Israel would attack targets in Beirut if Hezbollah did not stop attacking Israel. He also said Israel planned to continue operations in southern Lebanon.
“Tonight, I spoke with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens – Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut,” Netanyahu said in an X post. “This stance of ours remains unchanged. In parallel, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.”
NBC News said that Lebanese Civil Defense revealed on its Facebook page Tuesday that six people had been killed in an Israeli strike Monday night in the village of Marwaniyeh in southern Lebanon. The agency also said a its building Nabatieh was damaged. Furthermore, the Lebanese army reported that two soldiers had been wounded as a result of being targeted by an Israeli hostile drone in Nabatieh.
“The Israeli military told NBC News that it had launched at least one strike in Nabatieh, but said it was targeting what it described as Hezbollah infrastructure,” NBC News added.
