Trump-Netanyahu rift deepens as Iran deal exposes clashing aims – report

President Trump's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has deteriorated sharply as Trump pushed to end the war with Iran. According to the Wall Street Journal, Israeli officials were surprised by the ceasefire announced Thursday and had assessed that Trump was leaning more toward military strikes than a deal, according to Israeli officials. Israeli officials had been on standby for possible strikes, one person said.

Trump reportedly told his advisers that no one can handle Netanyahu, and that he wants to “bomb everyone.”

Despite the MoU including Israel’s war in Lebanon as part of the peace deal, it appears as if the agreement has left out any input from Israel. A US official claimed that Netanyahu had been getting briefed ‘frequently’ about clauses of the MoU.

However, this is contrary to previous reports stating the opposite which suggested that US officials went to lengths to hide their discussions from Israeli intelligence, going so far as to write notes on paper and hold meetings on US Naval vessels. It had even been reported that Netanyahu requested a copy of the MoU before it was released and was rejected.

In a recent call about Lebanon, Trump told Netanyahu, "Why are you blowing up buildings? Stop blowing up buildings." He reiterated similar statements while speaking on Wednesday in front of reporters at the G7 summit. A senior administration official told the Journal that Netanyahu typically uses calls with Trump to push for more military action, saying, "Bibi tells the president why he needs to blow something up, and why Israeli intelligence knows how to do it, and when to do it, and the president listens."

In another call about Lebanon earlier this month, Trump allegedly called Netanyahu "f—ing crazy" and told him he would be in prison without his support.

Netanyahu remained publicly silent on Wednesday amid the signing of the Islamabad MoU, which Israeli officials see as a strategic and political setback, after Netanyahu had promised the Israeli public "total victory" over Iran.

The embattled Prime Minister is already facing backlash from within Israel. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said, "Iran emerged stronger; Israel emerged weaker. That is Netanyahu's strategic responsibility. He failed." Yair Lapid called the deal "one of the most shocking failures in Israel's foreign and security policy," saying, "Netanyahu can no longer fix it; we will do it."

Netanyahu defended the war in a Monday speech, saying, "We saved the state of Israel from annihilation," while acknowledging he had not reviewed the draft agreement.