Trump reprimanded Netanyahu? Analysts question rumors of US-Israel feud | US-Israeli war against Iran

In January 2024, the publication Axios reported that then-US President Joe Biden “lacked patience” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza had been raging for months by then, and Biden was facing a public backlash over U.S. support for the conflict.

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The assault would continue for the remainder of Biden’s term and reverberate through the first 10 months of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

Since then, media outlets have continued to publish anonymous accounts of “frustrating” rifts and calls between Trump and the Israeli prime minister. But U.S. support for its Middle Eastern ally has never wavered.

Another anonymous report of an angry, expletive-laden call between U.S. and Israeli leaders was published this week and quickly spread across international media.

Axios reported Monday that Trump called Netanyahu “fucking crazy” and berated him over the Israeli escalation in Lebanon.

Around the same time, an Israeli attack killed six people, including two children, in the southern Lebanese town of al-Marwaniyah.

Experts say that despite leaks about the bickering and harsh words between U.S. leaders and Netanyahu, it is ultimately the policies that matter, and they have changed very little.

Ryan Costello, political director of the National Iranian American Council Action (NIAC), said political observers have taken to “mocking” reports of U.S. presidents’ behind-closed-doors anger at Netanyahu.

“What’s really important is what actually happens in practice,” Costello told Al Jazeera.

Two administrations, same reports

Although some reports indicated that Trump had criticized Netanyahu, Isabelle Hayslip, head of advocacy at the US-based human rights group DAWN, said US policy remained aligned with Israeli interests.

“Reports from a single source portraying Trump as a strongman who picks up the phone and yells at Netanyahu for undermining US policy are contradicted by the actual political results where Netanyahu gets exactly what he wants,” Hayslip told Al Jazeera.

“Trump does not have the final say on Israeli actions. Like his predecessors, the president has shown himself utterly incapable of putting American interests first, content instead to cater to Israel’s expansionist whims.”

The latest report comes as Trump faces growing pressure from his Democratic rivals and some segments of his base over his handling of the war against Iran, which he launched jointly with Netanyahu on February 28.

The conflict, which saw Iran close the Strait of Hormuz, caused U.S. gasoline prices to skyrocket and fueled inflation.

Critics have accused Trump of allowing Israel to drag the United States into a war that does not advance Washington’s priorities.

As negotiations to end the war stall, Israel’s escalation in Lebanon and its threat to bomb Beirut risk derailing the fragile truce that took effect in April.

Iranian officials have suggested they have cut off all contact with the United States following Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

Before the Axios report, Trump announced that he had spoken to Netanyahu and an unidentified Hezbollah representative, and both sides agreed that “all shooting would stop.”

But Netanyahu was quick to assert that the Israeli army “will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon,” where it is deepening its invasion and turning entire towns into rubble.

Advocates say Israeli atrocities in Lebanon and the region could not have happened without U.S. support.

Since Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza began in October 2023, the United States has provided Israel with nearly $25 billion in military aid, helped repel Iranian retaliation against the country, and vetoed several ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council.

Nonetheless, anonymous reports that the US president is angry with Netanyahu have become commonplace in the media.

Such reports are attributed to U.S. officials, but it is unclear how leaks with a similar message on the same topic continued between two administrations of different political parties.

“Moderate anger”

Publicly, Biden and Trump aides have largely refrained from criticizing Israel.

Trump has regularly praised the Israeli prime minister, repeatedly saying that Israel would have ceased to exist without Netanyahu’s leadership.

In December, the US president also called the Israeli prime minister a “hero” during a meeting in Florida.

“We are with you and we will continue to be with you,” Trump told Netanyahu.

Two weeks earlier, Axios reported that the White House had “reprimanded” Netanyahu for Israel’s ceasefire violations in Gaza.

“The message from the White House to Netanyahu was: ‘If you want to ruin your reputation and show that you are not respecting the agreements, be our guest, but we will not allow you to ruin the reputation of President Trump after he negotiated the Gaza agreement,’ a US official was quoted as saying by the publication.

Few people know the exact content of the high-level calls to the White House. Sometimes senior officials, including members of the National Security Council, participate in conversations between the president and world leaders after the briefings.

Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a nonprofit research organization, said the leak about the tense call between Trump and Netanyahu may be aimed at making Trump look tough on Israel in order to quell outrage over the war.

“This could be somehow a way to moderate anger or blame towards the United States for continuing this unpopular, illegal and unnecessary war,” Mortazavi told Al Jazeera.

She added that the message it sends is: “Look, we are very angry with Israel. We shout at them. We insult them.”

But Mortazavi stressed that policy is more important than rhetoric: “Does this change the facts on the ground?

Information warfare

For his part, Costello argued that the leak was likely headed to Iran.

“I see this primarily as a signal to the Iranians that Trump is serious and wants to isolate what is happening in Lebanon and the Israeli attacks from the negotiations with Iran,” Costello said.

“It remains to be seen to what extent this criticism has actually led to change in Israel’s policies, and I believe there is strong incentive for continued defiance from Netanyahu. »

Axios, meanwhile, defended its coverage.

“We stand by our reporting, which notes that ‘Trump and Netanyahu have had several tense calls in the past but have nevertheless continued to coordinate closely on Iran and other issues,'” Jake Wilkins, a spokesperson for the publication, told Al Jazeera in an email.

Mortazavi warned that all parties in the war against Iran are trying to influence public perception of the conflict.

She cited recent reports that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had resigned, a rumor that was quickly denied by her office.

“It’s a very hybrid war. It’s a war on the battlefield. It’s an intelligence war. It’s a war of narratives,” Mortazavi told Al Jazeera. “And then there is also an information war, which includes disinformation, half-truths and strategic leaks.”

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