In January 2024, the publication Axios reported that then-US President Joe Biden was “running out of patience” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza had been raging for months by that point, and Biden was facing public backlash over U.S. support for the conflict.
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The attacks will continue for the remainder of Biden’s term and will extend into the first 10 months of Donald Trump’s second term as president.
Since then, the media has continued to anonymously report on the rift and “frustrating” phone calls between President Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister. But America’s support for its allies in the Middle East never wavered.
This week, another anonymous source’s report of a violent and abusive phone call between the leaders of the United States and Israel was published and quickly spread in the international media.
Axios reported on Monday that President Trump called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “fucking crazy” and accused Israel of escalation in Lebanon.
Around the same time, an Israeli attack on the southern Lebanese town of al-Marwaniya killed six people, including two children.
Experts say that despite the feud between the U.S. leader and Netanyahu and the harsh words leaked, what ultimately matters is policy, and that little has changed.
Ryan Costello, policy director for the National Iranian American Council Action (NIAC), said political observers have come to “scoff” at reports of U.S. presidents’ behind-closed-doors anger toward Prime Minister Netanyahu.
“What really matters is what actually happens,” Costello told Al Jazeera.
Two administrations, same report
Despite reports that President Trump has given Netanyahu a dressing down, Isabel Haislip, advocacy manager for the U.S.-based rights group DAWN, said U.S. policy remains consistent with Israel’s interests.
“Single-source reporting that President Trump is a strongman who gets on the phone and yells at Prime Minister Netanyahu about undermining U.S. policy is contradicted by actual policy outcomes that accomplish exactly what Prime Minister Netanyahu wants,” Haislip told Al Jazeera.
“Mr. Trump does not have the final say on Israel’s actions. Like his predecessor, the president has proven completely incapable of prioritizing American interests and instead catering to the whims of Israeli expansionists.”
The latest report comes as President Trump faces increasing pressure from Democratic rivals and parts of his support base over his handling of the war against Iran, which he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched on February 28.
The conflict, which saw Iran blockade the Strait of Hormuz, caused gasoline prices to rise and inflation to accelerate in the United States.
Critics have accused Trump of allowing Israel to be drawn into a war that does not advance Washington’s priorities.
As negotiations to end the war stall, Israeli escalation in Lebanon and threats to bomb Beirut threaten to derail a fragile cease-fire agreement that took effect in April.
Iranian officials have indicated they will cut off communications with the United States over Israel’s attacks in Lebanon.
Before the Axios report, President Trump announced that he had met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an unidentified Hezbollah representative, and both sides agreed to “cease all shooting.”
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly insisted that Israeli forces would “continue operations as planned in southern Lebanon,” where they have deepened their incursions and reduced entire towns to rubble.
Advocates argue that Israel’s atrocities in Lebanon and across the region could not have happened without U.S. support.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023, the United States has provided nearly $25 billion in military aid to Israel, helped avert Iranian retaliatory strikes against the country, and vetoed several ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council.
Nevertheless, anonymous accounts of the US president being angry with Prime Minister Netanyahu have begun to appear regularly in the media.
Although such reports have been attributed to U.S. officials, it is unclear how leaks containing similar messages on the same topic continued across two administrations of different political parties.
“Relieve anger”
Aides to both Biden and Trump have largely refrained from criticizing Israel in public.
President Trump regularly praises the Israeli prime minister and has repeatedly claimed that Israel would cease to exist without Netanyahu’s leadership.
In December, the US president also called the Israeli prime minister a “hero” during a meeting in Florida.
“We are with you and we will continue to be with you,” President Trump told Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Two weeks earlier, Axios reported that the White House had “reprimanded” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s ceasefire violations in Gaza.
“The White House’s message to Prime Minister Netanyahu was, ‘If you want to damage your reputation and show that you are not abiding by the agreement, be our guest of honor. But we will not allow you to destroy the reputation of President Trump, who brokered the agreement in Gaza,'” the paper quoted a US official as saying.
Few people know the exact content of the high-level meeting at the White House. Senior government officials, including members of the National Security Council, may also sit in on conversations between the president and world leaders after the briefing.
Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a research nonprofit, said leaks about the tense phone call between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be aimed at getting Trump to take a tough stance on Israel to quell anger over the war.
“This may be a kind of way to defuse anger and condemnation of the United States for continuing this unpopular, illegal and unnecessary war,” Mortazavi told Al Jazeera.
She added that the message the device is sending is, “Look, we’re so angry at Israel. We’re yelling at them. We’re calling them names.”
But Mortazavi stressed that policy is more important than rhetoric: “Does it change the facts on the ground?”
information warfare
Costello claimed the leak was likely directed to Iran.
“I see this primarily as a signal to the Iranian people that President Trump is serious and that he wants to separate what’s going on with the Lebanese and Israeli attacks from the Iran negotiations,” Costello said.
“It remains to be seen to what extent that accusation actually led to a change in Israeli policy, but I think there are strong motivations for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s continued defiance.”
Meanwhile, Axios defended its reporting.
“We stand by our report stating that ‘President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu have had several tense phone calls in the past and remain in close coordination on Iran and other issues,'” Jake Wilkins, a spokesperson for the magazine, told Al Jazeera in an email.
Mortazavi warned that all parties to the war against Iran are trying to influence public perception of the conflict.
She pointed to recent reports that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had resigned, a rumor that was quickly denied by the presidential office.
“This is a very hybrid war. It’s a battlefield war. It’s an intelligence war. It’s a narrative war,” Mortazavi told Al Jazeera. “And we also have information warfare, including disinformation, half-truths, and strategic leaks.”
