Published on 6/19/2026
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Last update: 14:54 (Mecca time)
US President Donald Trump confirmed in an interview with Axios that Israel owes its existence to his current presence in power, directing criticism at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump said: “If it had not been for my intervention, Israel would have been crushed,” and added: “Netanyahu, who worked well with me, will tell you that we are the ones who have the weapons, we are the ones who have Iron Dome, and we are the ones who have B-2 bombers.”
Trump expressed confidence in his influence on the Israeli decision, stressing that Israel has great respect for him and will do what he says.
He described his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as good, adding: “But we have to keep him a little sane.”
Trump and world leaders
On the other hand, Trump denied that the Iran war had revealed the limits of his ability to exercise influence, stressed that his power was without limits, and said that he preferred to negotiate an agreement with Tehran to prevent the war from turning into a global economic depression.
The American President boasted that he was participating in a summit Group of Seven She was “very strong and controlling.”
He praised Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian President Narendra Modi as the two global leaders he most admires, praising Xi, describing him as a “businessman par excellence”, and Modi as a “very strong personality.”
He refused to identify the leaders he considered to be the weakest, before expressing his regret at the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin from the G7, which was known as the G8 before Russia was expelled after its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Trump spoke at length about French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to honor him by holding a dinner party at the Palace of Versailles, which Trump described as “my weak point.”
