Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly engaged in what sources described as a “shouting match from hell” over how to proceed with the war in Iran.
Relations between the US president and Israeli prime minister have repeatedly become strained as the conflict has continued, despite Trump’s unwavering public support for Israel.
According to Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, the two leaders clashed over the weekend after Netanyahu pressed for military action to resume while Trump continued to favor negotiations aimed at securing peace.
In an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said he had no desire to restart the strikes.
“Well, I’m not looking to. I don’t think there’s any reason to. I don’t think there’s any reason to,” he said.
Sources familiar with the conversation said the pair launched into an explosive phone exchange.
Netanyahu’s representatives angrily rejected the account, dismissing it as “fake news, complete nonsense.”
A senior Israeli official likewise said the call was “very much not a difficult conversation.”
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly clashed in an explosive phone call over the next phase of the Iran war
Relations between the US president and Israeli prime minister have repeatedly deteriorated as the conflict has continued, although Trump remains a strong supporter of Israel
The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for comment.
The reported confrontation comes as both leaders face growing uncertainty over their political futures.
Trump’s Republican Party is expected to lose control of Congress in January after what has been dubbed a “blue tsunami” in the midterm elections. Netanyahu, meanwhile, remains well short of the majority required to retain the premiership following Israel’s elections.
It was not the first reported dispute between the two leaders since they began a joint military operation against Iran.
In May, Trump and Netanyahu reportedly argued over whether to attack Iran during a “dramatic” overnight phone call, shortly after details emerged of an unsuccessful effort to topple Tehran’s regime at the beginning of the war.
Israel’s Channel 12 described that conversation as “lengthy and dramatic.”
Weeks later, reports emerged that Trump had called Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” in a phone conversation shortly before announcing a pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the Israeli prime minister had “turned his troops around” rather than carrying out a “major raid” in Lebanon on Monday.
He said the Israeli military and Hezbollah-linked militia groups had both agreed to “stop shooting” at one another.
Trump and Netanyahu reportedly clashed after Netanyahu urged a resumption of the war while Trump continued to back negotiations
Former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, waves an Israeli flag after exit polls were released at his party headquarters on October 28
Trump nevertheless offered a cautious response, writing: “Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!”
Before that statement, the two leaders had reportedly exchanged tense words during a phone call about escalating violence in Lebanon involving Israel and Hezbollah.
According to a source cited by Axios, Trump at one point asked Netanyahu bluntly: “What the f*** are you doing?”
Trump then reportedly berated the prime minister, telling him that he would be in jail without US support.
“You’re f***ing 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,” he allegedly said.
Two sources told Axios that Trump accused Netanyahu of showing little gratitude and warned that following through on threats to bomb Beirut would further damage Israel’s position.
The sources suggested Trump believed Israel’s military actions were undermining efforts to negotiate a peace agreement with Iran.
Netanyahu later appeared to question Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire, warning that Israel would strike Beirut if Hezbollah continued attacking the country.
In June, Trump again claimed that “there would be no Israel” without him, while criticizing Netanyahu and accusing him of having “no f*****g judgment” during the Lebanon conflict.
Speaking to reporters at the G7 summit in France, Trump said Israel’s war with Hezbollah had gone on too long and urged Netanyahu to act more responsibly in Lebanon.
“Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed,” he said during a bilateral meeting with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
“You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.”
Several weeks later, Trump criticized Netanyahu again before pledging to destroy Iran’s final nuclear facility, which is located deep inside a mountain.
The president rebuked the Israeli leader after Netanyahu told reporters he would provide Trump with evidence that Iran was continuing to develop its nuclear program at the site, known as Pickaxe Mountain.
“Well, I don’t need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved,” Trump told Fox News before meeting Netanyahu in the Oval Office.
Trump also cautioned Netanyahu against airing disagreements publicly, saying they should be discussed privately.
“I heard Bibi announce that. I said, ‘Why didn’t you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world?’”
Despite the earlier disputes, the two appeared to have developed a more cordial relationship in recent months, with Trump taking credit for strengthening Netanyahu’s position ahead of the election.
Trump wrote: “When President Trump endorsed Bibi Netanyahu, the whole tide turned, and now, rather than a decisive defeat for a great prime minister, it looks like a big come-from-behind stalemate, or even a WIN for Netanyahu.”
On October 18, nine days before Israelis went to the polls, Trump publicly endorsed Netanyahu and gave the country’s longest-serving prime minister his “complete and total endorsement.”
Netanyahu’s political future nevertheless remains uncertain after Israeli President Isaac Herzog asked opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to form a new government.
Trump has also said the United States will end its financial aid to Israel by the close of the year following an agreement with Netanyahu.
“They don’t need it. Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an [Abdul] El-Sayed when they don’t need it? They no longer need it, Israel is a thriving country,” Trump said in a Tuesday interview with Fox & Friends.
He added: “Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal that we give Israel $4 billion a year, and we made a deal months ago that we’re stopping.”
Trump said the aid would be “cut off at the end of the year,” while leaving open the possibility that Washington could provide assistance again if circumstances changed.
“Now we’ll help Israel if they need it. You know they’ve been a great ally,” he said.
Trump also said Netanyahu understood that US aid to Israel had become a political target for Democrats, including Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a prominent critic of Israel.
“The left uses the $4 billion payment — that everybody knows about, it’s no secret — as a signal of unfairness,” the president said.
“And we can’t allow that to happen. I don’t like that, because it’s too easy. It’s almost too easy a target. And Bibi and I have been talking, and we’ve agreed. He was very understanding of it.”
Although the annual $4 billion in aid is set to end, the United States will continue selling weapons to Israel.
