Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under criticism at home after US President Donald Trump declared Israel would halt plans to attack Iran ally Hezbollah in Beirut, highlighting pressure the Israeli leader faces ahead of an election polls show him losing.
Multiple reports on Monday spoke about a tense phone call between Trump and Netanyahu after the US President demanded the Israeli PM to immediately abandon plans to strike Beirut and avoid jeopardizing talks with Iran.
Trump said on Monday that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to halt attacks on one another, hours after Netanyahu ordered new strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, prompting a warning from Iran that Israel was jeopardizing Tehran’s talks with the US.
Lebanon's government later announced a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, under which Israel would halt strikes on southern Beirut and Hezbollah would stop attacks on Israel.
Netanyahu's challengers in elections due by October accused the prime minister of having acquiesced to Trump on issues of national security.
“The location is different, the story is the same,” said Naftali Bennett, a right-wing security hawk and former premier who also criticizes Netanyahu over Hamas militants' resurgence in Gaza.
“A government that has lost control of Israeli sovereignty,” Bennett said in an X post, according to Reuters.
Bennett and his coalition partner in the upcoming election, centrist Yair Lapid, have pressed for strikes against Hezbollah.
“A full protectorate,” Lapid said in an X post, in effect accusing Netanyahu of allowing the US to dictate Israeli military policy as if Israel was an American client state.
Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade fire despite an April 16 US-brokered ceasefire. The latest conflict began on March 2 with Hezbollah firing into Israel in support of Iran.
Israel has since deepened its invasion of southern Lebanon, displacing over a million people and killing more than 3,400 as it bombards areas with attacks it says are aimed at rooting out Hezbollah. Hezbollah has not released figures on its war dead.
Also, the criticisms came while the US President lashed out at Netanyahu over Israel's escalation in Lebanon in an expletive-laden call on Monday, two US officials and a third source briefed on the call told Axios.
Earlier on Monday, Iran threatened to abandon the negotiations with the US over Israel's actions in Lebanon. On the call, Trump called Netanyahu “crazy” and accused him of ingratitude, according to two of the sources. He also put the brakes on Israel’s plan to strike Beirut.
One US official said Trump told Netanyahu that following through on his threats to bomb the Lebanese capital would further isolate Israel around the world, Axios said.
Two of the sources said the US President claimed he'd helped keep Netanyahu out of jail — a reference to his support during Netanyahu's corruption trial.
Summarizing Trump's remarks to Netanyahu, the US official said: “You're...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.”
A second source briefed on the call said Trump was “pissed” and at one point yelled at Netanyahu: “What the fuck are you doing?”
The US official said Trump knew Hezbollah had been shooting at Israel and that Israel needed to defend itself, but felt in recent days that Netanyahu was escalating in a disproportionate way.
Another US official said 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.
Also, Israel no longer plans to strike Hezbollah targets in Beirut, an Israeli official told Axios.
Trump and Netanyahu have had several tense calls in the past but have still coordinated closely on Iran and other issues.
One official said this was one of Trump's worst calls with Netanyahu since he returned to office.
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.
After the call, Trump posted on Truth Social that the Iran talks were “continuing, at a rapid pace.”
The second US official claimed that, in reality, Trump had “steamrolled” Netanyahu on the call. “Bibi said, 'OK, OK, just make sure everything is taken care of,’” according to the official.
Netanyahu's office did not respond to a request for comment.
