“They have a lot of respect for me, and so they do as I say.” President Donald Trump said that about Israel in an interview with Axios published Friday, when he was asked whether he could stop the Israelis from attacking Lebanon. His answer was a flat yes.
On his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump called it “good, but we have to keep him a little bit sane.”
The interview appeared soon after Israel hit Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon overnight Thursday, a wave of strikes that killed at least 47 people, the Lebanese health ministry said. Israel reported that four of its soldiers had died in Hezbollah attacks. Israel and Hezbollah then agreed to a new ceasefire earlier on Friday. Trump told NBC he had asked Israel to agree to stop the fighting, though he would not say whether he spoke to Netanyahu directly.
Vance’s warning
A day earlier, Vice President JD Vance, who led the American negotiations with Iran, rebuked Israeli lawmakers who have criticized the deal. “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,” he said. His remarks fed talk of widening cracks between Washington and its closest Middle East partner.
A deal Israel says it never signed
The US and Iran had signed a memorandum of understanding earlier in the week to end military hostilities. It also required American allies to stop fighting on every front, Lebanon in particular. Netanyahu has said Israel was not told about the deal and is not bound by its terms, and he has promised to keep troops in Lebanon.
That dispute has repeatedly held up progress and angered Trump. Three unnamed diplomats told The New York Times that Iran pulled out of Friday’s planned talks in Switzerland after Israel hit Hezbollah overnight Wednesday. The meeting, meant to start negotiations on a final deal, was cancelled.
Trump has been blunt about Netanyahu in the past. In one tense call earlier this month, he said, he called the Israeli leader “crazy” and told him he was “a little bit perturbed.” On Sunday, as the memorandum was about to be signed digitally, Trump told Axios he was furious that Netanyahu had struck Lebanon. “I let him know that,” he said.
“There are no limits”
Trump also repeated to Axios that Israel would not exist without him, because he kept Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and using it. Asked whether the Iran war had tested his powers, he said: “There are no limits.”
Critics note that the Iran deal did not guarantee an end to Iran’s nuclear program, the objective Trump gave for starting the war. Trump said he made the deal to head off a global economic depression, with Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz choking world oil supply.
Sources
- 'They Do As I Say': Trump Boasts of Influence Over Israel, Says He Keeps Netanyahu 'Sane'
- ‘They Do As I Say’ Trump Says Of Israel Amid Disagreement Over Iran Deal
- ‘They Do As I Say’ Trump Says Of Israel Amid Disagreement Over Iran Deal
