Trump held one of the most important meetings of his presidency.
It didn’t go as anyone expected.
And what Trump said on this critical phone call will leave jaws on the floor.
As Swamp Digest reports:
President Trump exploded at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Netanyahu escalated military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, a move that threatened to tank peace talks between the U.S. and Iran to end the war.
Ending the war is critical to getting gas prices under control.
But Netanyahu wants to destroy Hezbollah and collapse the Iranian regime, goals that are at odds with Trump’s aim of simply preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and bringing the war to a close.
During a tense phone call between the two, Trump reportedly blasted Bibi’s conduct for tanking Israel’s public perception and reminded Netanyahu that Trump was the one who fought for Netanyahu to stay out of jail now that he is facing corruption charges.
“You’re ******** crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ***. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” a U.S. official told Axios, was the message Trump delivered on the call.
Trump was reminding Netanyahu that polls in the United States show a sharp decrease in support for Israel.
A recent Pew Survey found 60 percent of Americans hold a negative view towards Israel, which is up from 53 percent the prior year.
And 59 percent of Americans have little to no confidence in Netanyahu’s leadership.
The U.S. official went on to say that Trump understood that Israel had to retaliate against Hezbollah strikes from Lebanon.
But that Trump also believed Netanyahu escalated operations beyond what was proportional to the point that Iran threatened to walk away from negotiations, since securing a ceasefire in Lebanon is one of the sticking points on a deal to end the war.
Axios reported that “The U.S. 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 disproportionately.”
After the call, Trump posted on Truth Social that he spoke with Netanyahu and the leaders of Hezbollah and that Hezbollah agreed to stop firing rockets at Israel and that Israel would turn around troops heading to
“I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today, asking him not to go into a major raid on Beirut, Lebanon. He turned his Troops around. Thank you, Bibi! I also had a conversation with Representatives of the Leaders of Hezbollah, and they agreed to stop shooting at Israel and its soldiers. Likewise, Israel agreed to stop shooting at them. Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!” Trump wrote.
But Netanyahu contradicted Trump in a subsequent tweet, stating that Israel would continue its planned military operations in Lebanon.
“Tonight, I spoke with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens, Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut.
This stance of ours remains unchanged. In parallel, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon,” Netanyahu wrote.