Trump confirms calling Netanyahu 'crazy' over Lebanon war
They went to war together against Iran, but Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu's relationship is under strain after the U.S. president reportedly called the Israeli premier "crazy."
Trump unleashed a profane tirade over the phone at Netanyahu over Israel's threats to bomb the Lebanese capital Beirut, fearing it would undermine talks with Tehran, the Axios news outlet and ABC News reported.
It underscored the increasingly shaky ties between two right-wing allies with lots to lose politically from the Middle East war -- and who both face criticism for being in hock to the other.
Trump wants a way out of a war that has badly hit the U.S. economy less than six months before midterm elections, which will decide if his Republican party keeps control of Congress.
The second-term Republican president, 79, also faces growing criticism from parts of his Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition that he is doing Israel's bidding in the Iran war.
Israel's veteran prime minister meanwhile faces the possible collapse of his right-wing coalition and is under fire for bowing to Trump on matters of security after calling off a plan to attack Beirut.
- 'Everybody hates you' -
"You're fucking 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," Axios quoted Trump as shouting at Netanyahu in the call on Monday.
Israeli media have rejected the account of the conversation.
A White House official referred AFP to Trump's Truth Social posts from Monday when asked to confirm Axios's account of the call and to comment on the state of the relationship with Netanyahu.
In his posts, Trump thanked Netanyahu for what he said was an agreement to pull troops back from Beirut and to "stop the shooting" with Hezbollah.
Iran had reportedly halted peace talks because of Israel's attacks on Lebanon.
But analysts said it was not the first time they had fallen out, nor would it be the last.
"The fact of personal tensions between Netanyahu and U.S. presidents is not new," former ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council, told AFP.
"In fact, he has a perfect record of reaching that point of frustration with every U.S. president he's worked with."
Netanyahu has been trying to persuade U.S. presidents for three decades to attack Iran over its nuclear program, but in Trump he finally found an ideological bedfellow.
The Israeli premier met Trump on multiple occasions since his return to power and was instrumental in getting the U.S. leader over the line in February when he was still deciding whether to go to war, the New York Times reported recently.
As it drags on, both the war and his alliance with Netanyahu are proving politically costly.
- 'Dying to stay in power' -
Former Trump allies like broadcaster Tucker Carlson and ex-congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene accuse him of letting Israel drag the United States into another Middle East war.
This, they say, is against the "America First" principles the MAGA movement represents.
"Support of Israel seems to mean our guys are going to die," former Fox News host Megyn Kelly said on her show recently.
The Republican party has long been staunchly pro-Israel but it is becoming increasingly divided on the issue. Some 57 percent of Republicans ages 18 to 49 have an unfavorable opinion of Israel, up from 50 percent last year, a Pew Research poll showed in April.
The Iran war's effect on prices threatens Republican chances in November's midterm elections -- and if Democrats retake control of Congress then Trump could face impeachment for the third time.
For Netanyahu -- with open war fronts in Lebanon, Iran and Gaza, and a string of corruption charges at home -- the stakes are arguably higher.
"Netanyahu is dying to stay in power," Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group told AFP.
"Trump is trying to figure out a way out of it, and he clearly has a lot of leverage over Netanyahu. Netanyahu can't just go against Trump."
She added that Trump was "trying to move forward, and Netanyahu is still trying to go back to war. That's the main divergence here."
- Trump confirms he called Netanyahu crazy -
In an interview with New York Post, Trump said he was disturbed by Netanyahu’s constant fighting with Lebanon and confirmed having told Netanyahu he’s "f–king crazy".
"I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon," he said, adding that he "likes Bibi a lot" and that he works "very well with him."
"We’ve worked very well together. I’m a wartime president; he’s a wartime prime minister."
Trump said he was the one who started the Iran war. "I don't want to bore anybody, but I started it because we can't let them have a nuclear weapon," he said, adding that "there would be no Israel if there wasn't me."
- Iran war increasingly tied to Lebanon -
Israeli forces have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any time in over a quarter of a century — despite a nominal ceasefire in place between Israel and Hezbollah.
Lebanon has emerged as a key sticking point in Trump’s efforts to sign a ceasefire deal with Iran.
Tehran insists that any larger potential truce in the war there must also quell the fighting in Lebanon. Netanyahu wants to keep the issues separate and is under heavy domestic pressure to strike Hezbollah as he prepares for new elections this fall.
The fighting has exposed the rift between close allies Israel and the U.S.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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