Published On 6/5/2026
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Last update: 17:29 (Mecca time)
Israeli officials believe that US President Donald Trump’s recent call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the details of which were leaked to the media, is considered one of the most intense contacts between the two parties – according to what was reported by Reuters – and raises political repercussions inside Israel, especially with the elections scheduled for this year approaching.
One of these officials told the agency that the leak caused political damage to Netanyahu before the elections.
Opinion polls in Israel show that Netanyahu faces increasing competition months before parliamentary elections that may be held in September or October.
According to a poll conducted by Israeli Channel 12, former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot came ahead of Netanyahu for the first time as the most suitable person to head the government as the next elections approach.
American media reports stated that Trump described Netanyahu as “completely crazy” during the phone call that took place last Monday, against the backdrop of the Israeli threat to bomb the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The American website Axios was the first to reveal the details of the call, noting that Trump expressed his anger at Israeli threats to resume air strikes on the southern suburb of Beirut, and was quoted as saying to Netanyahu, “Everyone hates you now, and everyone hates Israel because of this.”
The call came in light of Iranian warnings that the continuation of Israeli strikes in Lebanon may undermine the negotiations between Washington and Tehran to end the war between them.
Reuters quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that Netanyahu told Trump that suspending military plans against Beirut would be useless unless Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel stopped, adding that the American president showed understanding of this proposal.
Following the call, Trump announced that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to stop exchanging strikes, which sparked internal criticism in Israel, as Netanyahu’s political opponents and some members of his government accused the prime minister of “ceding part of Israeli sovereignty” to Washington.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said that the situation has become similar to “full guardianship,” considering that Netanyahu has placed Israel in the position of a state subordinate to the United States.
Public disagreements and reservations
Although American-Israeli relations have witnessed repeated disagreements over the past decades with both Republican and Democratic administrations, Israel has remained Washington’s closest ally in the Middle East, according to Reuters.
Nimrod Goren, head of the Mitvim Research Center, believes that what distinguishes the current stage is the emergence of disputes into the open in an unprecedented manner, after they were traditionally managed behind closed doors.
Trump said in an interview with the New York Post that he felt “slightly disturbed” by the continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon, but at the same time he stressed that the cooperation between him and Netanyahu was very good.
Trump’s decision to participate in strikes against Iran twice within one year gave Netanyahu an important strategic gain, after he spent years pressuring Washington to take a tougher military stance toward… Iran’s nuclear program, according to Reuters.
On the other hand, during the recent period, Trump took steps that raised reservations within Israel, including stopping American strikes against the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) in Yemen, lifting sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, in addition to ending the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June 2025.
