President Trump’s public outburst Tuesday against Israel and Iran to stop shooting and adopt a ceasefire signaled he isn’t afraid to confront Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when it comes to protecting his efforts to present himself as a peace and dealmaker.
Trump’s profane-laced frustration that the U.S. ally Israel along with Iran should give up the fighting also sent a signal to MAGA World that the president was not beholden to Netanyahu’s war aims.
After backing off earlier threats that the U.S. could support regime change in Iran, Trump even raised the possibility of trade with Tehran and seeing the country’s oil on the markets.
“What is going on today is that the president’s putting pressure on Israel, he wants to maintain the ceasefire, he knows that any further fighting would not only call into question his diplomacy, but would risk involving America in a deeper, longer-term military involvement in the region,” said Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the U.S.
The big swing from an unprecedented display of American military might that baited an unpredictable regime to de-escalation and talk of peace and cooperation won favor among some of the conservative media’s biggest personalities.
“President Trump with a historic masterclass,” the conservative activist Charlie Kirk wrote on Truth Social, lauding Trump for avoiding an escalating war with Iran.
Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Trump who remains an influential voice in the MAGA movement, gave support to Trump’s frustration with Netanyahu.
“You lied to him, that’s why he’s furious. That’s as mad as I’ve ever seen the president of the United States and think about it, how to get his anger like that given everything he’s done for you and the pressure he’s under … this is the thanks he gets?” Bannon said on his podcast.
The criticism of Israel was notable given the president’s support for the country.
He moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli control of the Golan Heights, lifted U.S. sanctions on the Israeli-occupied West Bank, exited the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that Netanyahu opposed, and brokered ties between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — the Abraham Accords.
But Trump had a massive falling out with Netanyahu in 2020, after the Israeli leader recognized President Biden’s election victory, telling a reporter “F‑‑‑ Bibi,” using the prime minister’s nickname.
And while Trump’s military strike on Iran demonstrated his administration was in lockstep with Israel on preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the president has bucked Netanyahu’s position on a series of major foreign policy issues.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump broke with typical GOP talking points on Israel and criticized the destruction wrought in the Gaza Strip. Trump also said Israel “let us down” when Netanyahu refused to join the U.S. strike that killed a top Iranian general in 2020.
Trump went around Israel to get hostages freed from captivity by Hamas in Gaza. Flouting Israeli opposition, Trump lifted all sanctions on Syria. And Trump pulled back on pressure for Saudi Arabia to broker ties with Israel absent a resolution to the war with Hamas.
In April, Netanyahu sat silently in the Oval Office as Trump announced he would begin direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program.
Trump’s goals for the talks with Iran also appeared to break with Israel’s interest, focusing only on Iran giving up enrichment capabilities, while not addressing Tehran’s support for proxy militia groups across the region, its missile program and support for terrorism globally.
Trump “wants to be a peacemaker, he wants to be a dealmaker, and the question for Israel would be the degree to which Israel’s vital interests can be preserved,” Oren said during a briefing hosted by the Jerusalem Press Club.
“In this way, it’s not much different than where we were back in 2015 where we were concerned that [former President] Obama would strike a deal with the Iranians, and Israel’s interests would not be preserved in that deal.”
Amos Hochstein, who was a senior official focused on the Middle East during the Biden administration, described a pattern of Israeli leaders presenting headstrong views on security and using the U.S. as a scapegoat to rein them in with hawkish security officials and hard-line political partners.
“I’ll say something a bit controversial, but in my mind, since Ronald Reagan, Israel doesn’t have a stop button,” Hochstein said on the “Unholy: Two Jews on the News” podcast June 19.
“Every prime minister, right-wing, left-wing centrist goes to his, whoever it is at the time, the military, the intelligence, his, you know, extremist parties and says, ‘I’m with you, but these darn Americans are forcing me to stop.’ And they’re like, all right, fine, we’ll stop and we’ll do a deal. And that’s been the case in every operation since the 1980s.”
Trump’s frustration with Netanyahu mirrors similar tensions that played out during the Obama and Biden administrations, where the long-time Israeli leader tested both presidents on significant security challenges.
This includes Netanyahu’s 2015 speech to Congress opposing then-President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. The collapse of U.S.-led peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians also greatly soured the relationship between the Obama administration and Netanyahu.
President Biden and Netanyahu had a major falling out over controversial judicial changes in Israel, and then the relationship strained as Netanyahu pursued the war against Hamas in the face of U.S. efforts to mediate a ceasefire and hostage release.
Those tensions typically played out in staid, diplomatic snubs. Still, Biden reportedly referred to Netanyahu in private as a “bad f‑‑‑ing guy” and a “son of a b‑‑‑‑.”
“Netanyahu is an incredibly gifted politician, incredibly gifted negotiator, orator, and he’s incredibly knowledgeable about the U.S. … He’s used to playing Washington like a fiddle,” one former senior official said.
“He generally outplays American leaders to an extraordinary level. What’s different about Donald Trump is he doesn’t care about anything other than his base and his vision of America.”
The former senior official continued that Netanyahu “has gotten under every American president’s skin to an extraordinary degree, but Donald Trump is Donald Trump, he doesn’t keep things in.”