Netanyahu Reveals Explosive Details From Final Conversation With Late Sen. Graham

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described his final exchange with Lindsey Graham before the US senator’s sudden death at 71, saying Graham remained deeply focused on preserving American military support for Israel. Speaking Sunday afternoon on Fox & Friends Weekend, Netanyahu said Graham viewed Israel’s security as inseparable from America’s own. “He was so concerned with our security, which he believed was your [America’s] security, that he actually fought the prime minister of Israel on keeping America’s aid or actually increasing it,” Netanyahu recalled. “And that tells you what kind of a person this extraordinary, extraordinary friend was.” Graham, a strong backer of both Israel and Ukraine, had also advised the president on foreign policy issues involving Russia and Iran. He died Saturday evening in Washington, DC, after what his office described as a “brief and sudden illness,” just one day after returning from Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Netanyahu said that even after he argued Israel had “come of age” with a “robust economy,” Graham would not shift his position.

Netanyahu said he told Graham that Israel was increasingly capable of paying for its own defense needs. “[I told him] we can take care of our own — financing our own weapons for the defense of Israel and defense of our common interests with America, so I’m going to phase out… the military support for Israel over a period of years and bring it down to zero. We can do it,” the prime minister said. His remarks came only hours after President Donald Trump revealed that he, too, had spoken with Graham shortly before the senator died. Trump described Graham as “like a member of the family” and said the two talked by phone Saturday night, just hours before his death.

Trump said Graham used that final conversation to press for passage of the SAVE America Act, legislation he co-sponsored in the Senate. “He actually said he was tired, but he wanted to pass the SAVE America Act, and I said, ‘Well, we’re going to get it done, Lindsey. We’re going to get it done. I’ll see you, like, soon,’” Trump said on Meet the Press. The bill has cleared the US House of Representatives three times but has not advanced through the Senate, where it would require 60 votes to overcome the filibuster.

Graham’s office announced early Sunday that the South Carolina Republican, who had served in the Senate since 2002, had died. Trump posted a tribute on Truth Social soon after the announcement, praising Graham as both a close ally and a relentless worker. “Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!,” Trump wrote. Graham was among Trump’s most loyal Senate supporters and routinely backed the president’s legislative agenda.

Trump had publicly endorsed Graham in late March 2025, a little more than a month after taking office, calling him “a wonderful friend.” On Sunday morning, the president ordered flags at the White House lowered to half-staff in Graham’s honor. He also appeared on several networks, including NBC News and CNN, to speak about the senator’s legacy. Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether he wanted to say anything about Graham, Trump pointed to the senator’s defense of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “No, I think his finest moment was his defense of Brett Kavanaugh, who’s a terrific guy, and was treated very, very unfairly by the Democrats,” Trump said.

“Very — I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump continued, referring to the battle over Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the US Supreme Court. “He was treated so unfairly, and Lindsey, as you remember, had that moment. I think it was the top 10, maybe the top five moments in the history of the Senate. It was an incredible display, and he did it from the heart,” he added. Trump was referring to Graham’s forceful defense of Kavanaugh during the 2018 confirmation hearings, when the nominee faced sexual assault allegations. Graham denounced the proceedings as the “most unethical sham” he had seen in politics, said Kavanaugh had “nothing to apologize for,” and urged Republicans to stand behind him.