All of this is happening for one reason: Trump cannot say no to Netanyahu. Which is precisely why we are now hearing about this phone conversation.
While the Israelis attempted to desperately claw back their pre-March 2 status quo of bombing Lebanon uncontested, the United States fell into the trap of emulating the Tel Aviv strategy in the Persian Gulf. The results left the Israeli leaders and US Central Command humiliated.
After expanding their ground campaign against southern Lebanon, the Israelis decided to take things up a notch on Monday morning. Tel Aviv’s strategy of intensifying the bombardment of Lebanese towns, cities and villages, alongside a renewed offensive to occupy new territory, fell completely flat. Not only did Hezbollah match their offensive, with an increase in the volume of deadly operations in south Lebanon, but they also waited a few days to deceive their Israeli opponents before launching rocket attacks across the Galilee.
Unable to deal with the mounting losses of military vehicles and personnel, in addition to the domestic upheaval over the clock cross-border rocket and drone fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to implement a new strategy instead.
On Monday morning, the Premier, alongside his Defense Minister, Israel Katz, publicly announced their intention to strike the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahiyeh) in response to the retaliatory rocket fire triggering mayhem across the Galilee. The Israeli military even directly threatened Dahiye, leading to civilian displacement.
Yet, the Islamic Republic of Iran had other ideas. Not only did the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, publicly announce that a violation of the ceasefire on one front is a violation on all, but a string of statements were also released from officials belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that explicitly threatened to strike Israel in response to any attack on Beirut.
Hours later, the Israeli prime minister and US President Donald Trump had a phone call – one that has become the subject of much controversy in the media since – during which it was agreed not to go through with the threat to attack the Lebanese Capital. The news sent shockwaves throughout Israeli society and triggered a firestorm of criticism against Netanyahu. Everyone from opposition figures like Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman, all the way to Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, piled on.
Suddenly, there were questions about Israel’s “sovereignty” and ability to say no to US President Donald Trump – then came the big story that was leaked to the media: Trump allegedly called Netanyahu crazy and complained to him about his behavior. Both were later asked about this incident, which triggered headlines that the scoop had been confirmed.
What followed were analyses about Trump putting his foot down. This is blatantly false, and a reminder of recent history exposes these theories as false. Not only have these stories of reported clashes between the US President and Israeli PM been reported multiple times since Trump took office, often right before the US launches military action in support of Tel Aviv, but it always begins with a leak, meaning that these scoops are being planted strategically in the hands of corporate media journalists like Barak Ravid and others.
The same exact thing occurred throughout the course of the Gaza genocide, during Joe Biden’s tenure. US and Israeli media manufactured stories, also based around what was allegedly said or had happened during phone calls between the President and the Israeli leader. We heard about “Biden’s frustration”, “Biden’s Rafah invasion red line”, that the former President called Netanyahu a “bad F***ING guy” and even slammed the phone down on him.
Right before the Israelis launched the 12-Day-War against Iran last June, there was a period where all the Israeli and US media outlets were pushing stories about a feud between Trump and Netanyahu. The fake fall-out story progressed so much that around a month prior to war, there were even claims produced, printed in the Jerusalem Post at the time, that President Trump was going to recognize the State of Palestine.
Even during the war itself, there were stories published, quoting unnamed officials and sources, about Trump abandoning the Israelis after becoming upset with the war. Then came the “analysts” to write articles after the US bombed Iran’s nuclear sites, claiming that this occurred because Trump had put his foot down and decided to end the war.
Donald Trump even told reporters, after he had announced a ceasefire to end the 12-Day-War, that he was mad with sides and that “they don’t know what the f*** they are doing”. To put it bluntly, this is all theatrics, and these kinds of developments should not guide anyone’s analysis of US-Israeli joint actions. At the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding– Trump launched two failed wars for Israel’s sake alone and achieved nothing in both Yemen and Iran.
All of this being said, the phone call did have one outcome: the decision was made that Israeli strikes on Beirut would be postponed. This was because of Iran’s direct threats to begin striking Israeli targets. On Tuesday, Tehran then doubled down on this position.
Later that Monday, the US then attempted to spread disinformation, encouraging its puppets in Beirut – Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam – to begin hyping up the idea of a new ceasefire. This was simply done in order for the Israelis to try and impose a new reality on the battlefield, a desperate attempt to get Hezbollah to back down from firing rockets at the Galilee, in exchange for them not bombing Beirut. As was clearly demonstrated through the continued rocket fire throughout the day, Hezbollah was not about to stop retaliating against Israel’s attacks on the south of Lebanon.
Now the reason why the US would have decided against the plan to strike Dahiye is that this would undoubtedly trigger a breakdown of the shaky ceasefire agreement it had made with the Iranians. Although the US appears to be planning another round of fighting, alongside its Israeli allies, they don’t have many options on the table.
This means that symbolic victories in any upcoming confrontation will be central to the US-Israeli planning. In other words, they like to launch surprise attacks that enable them to assassinate officials.
Meanwhile, the US military’s process of Israelification led it to launch a series of aggressive actions in the Persian Gulf. The US wanted to normalize low-intensity warfare and create an equation that allowed it to bomb targets in southern Iran. At first, the IRGC’s responses were tame, likely prioritizing not collapsing the ceasefire, but this week things began to intensify and the Islamic Republic made it clear that no such strikes will be tolerated in the future.
Back in Washington, the Trump administration is rattling off its typical talking points about Iran and how much they are “winning”. In reality, Iran is the one that is behaving as if it is the global military superpower. Tehran frequently outsmarts the US and Israel, has fought both of them to a standstill, holds all the cards, while refusing to budge an inch on its demands.
All of this is happening for one reason: Trump cannot say no to Netanyahu. Which is precisely why we are now hearing about this phone conversation. It is clear that there is no positive outcome for Washington in this conflict and that Israel’s continued ceasefire violations in Lebanon and Gaza are leading to an escalation, yet the only thing Trump can do is call Netanyahu and warn him that it isn’t strategically viable to bomb Beirut at this time.
If Netanyahu was really warned by an angry Donald Trump, then why did he continue to threaten Beirut? Better yet, why is Trump stating in interviews that a ceasefire in Lebanon is different to a ceasefire elsewhere in the world, as a means of the Israelis violating it?
The US President tries to pride himself on his ceasefires, yet the Israelis constantly spit in his face on a daily basis with their non-stop attacks in Gaza and Lebanon. This is an American President who is simply incapable of doing a deal with Iran, telling Israel to end any war fully on any front. He bends over backward to please the Israelis at every single turn, defending them over anyone else and even launching crackdowns across the US against Israel critics by clamping down on free speech at University Campuses.
A backbone could have saved the US leadership this embarrassment and the whole world the cost of war. Even if we were to assume that the call with Netanyahu did happen the way it is being reported, it proves only one thing: the only means of recourse that the US President has is to raise his voice on the phone. For some reason, he doesn’t seem to possess the power to tell Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, to end the Gaza genocide and to sign a deal with Iran that opens the Strait of Hormuz.
– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
This article is spot on. Aside from pro-Israel Americans, 2/3 of the nation have come to spot these pretend “arguments” with Netanyahu.
It was much easier to lie to Americans in the past because they weren’t given a front row seat in watching war crimes and the deaths of innocent civilians, including children. The news could mislead without suspicion. Clearly Netanyahu, Biden, and now Trump still live in a time that no longer exists—where their actions are no longer trusted but considered suspect—as well as being watched much more closely.
The article does not address the Greater Israel project, which will proceed regardless of sham ceasefires with any of its neighbours, including ones which have officially signed peace agreements with the genocidal apartheid settler colony. It is important to focus on their end-game rather than reciprocate to intermittent incursions or assassinations. In the case of “Nuclear” talks with Iran, what good is a Real Estate tycoon and the son-n -law of the US president? None of the Western overtures are genuine and never were. They happened while the Two-State solution quietly became a joke. There is only one language they understand. Their civilian losses should match the losses they inflict.