Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has downplayed reports of a falling out with President Donald Trump after the latter recently admitted to calling the Israeli prime minister “fucking crazy.”
In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected the idea that his relationship with President Trump had changed, saying, “No, we’ve had a great relationship so far, because he was Israel’s greatest friend in the history of the White House.”
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Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Gaza, added that the two leaders have mutual respect.
“We have a common goal. Like the best families, we sometimes have tactical disagreements,” he said.
“We always find a way to solve problems, and we do so as great friends. Sometimes we disagree in the morning, but in the afternoon we have common action.”
The comments came after President Trump told the New York Post that he criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call earlier this week over Israel’s escalation in Lebanon.
“I was a little upset that he was constantly fighting Lebanon,” Trump said.
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, including the Israeli military’s announcement that it would bomb the capital Beirut, threaten to derail negotiations between the United States and Iran.
The Iranian government has indicated it may respond militarily to Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
President Trump said he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hezbollah representatives on Monday, and both sides agreed to continue firing.
But fighting continues in southern Lebanon, where Israel has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed entire towns.
However, Israeli forces thwarted the attack on Beirut.
Despite clear differences over Lebanon, President Trump praised the Israeli prime minister on Wednesday for “working well together.”
“I really like Bibi,” he said, using Prime Minister Netanyahu’s nickname.
Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed that he is on the same page as President Trump in Lebanon and shares the goal of disarming Hezbollah.
“I think he understands that Lebanon has been taken hostage by Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said.
Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran, said it was fighting Israel’s objective of expanding into Lebanon and ethnically cleansing the country’s south.
Lebanese groups say their fighting is legal under the United Nations Charter, which gives states and individuals the right to self-defense.
Fighting spilled over into Lebanon after Israel and the US attacked Iran without direct provocation on February 28. Two days after the conflict began, Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s repeated ceasefire violations and killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Since the start of the regional war, several Israeli politicians have openly advocated occupying southern Lebanon indefinitely and building settlements there.
In March, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz outlined a plan to seize the south of the country and prevent hundreds of thousands of residents from returning.
Katz also said he had ordered “accelerated destruction of Lebanese homes in villages in the overhead line zone” and acknowledged that the policy followed the model of the annihilation of Rafah and Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he wants “peace” with Lebanon.
“If we want to save Lebanon, and if we want to achieve peace between Lebanon and Israel, as I do, we need to disarm Hezbollah and demilitarize Lebanon,” the Israeli prime minister said. “I know this is a goal that the president and I share.”
The demilitarization of the entire country appears to be a new Israeli demand to prevent the Lebanese army from acquiring weapons that could pose a threat to Israel.
Since April, Lebanese and Israeli officials have held several rounds of talks in the United States, but negotiations have failed to produce a ceasefire or stop Israel’s systematic destruction of Lebanese towns.
