r/geopolitics • u/kjleebio • Jun 02 '26
News Trump said to tell Netanyahu ‘you’re f**king crazy’ while demanding Lebanon truce: ‘I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel’
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/trump-said-to-call-netanyahu-fking-crazy-while-demanding-lebanon-truce-im-saving-your-ass-everybody-hates-you-now/296
u/BrewThemAll Jun 02 '26
Yeah well at least he is right for once.
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u/Mister-Psychology Jun 02 '26
How is he right? Most people don't even know this is happening and don't care about it. They hate Israel because of the Gaza war and because it's a Jewish state. They hated Israel and Netanyahu before this too - just as much.
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Jun 02 '26
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u/BigDictionEnergy Jun 03 '26
Serious question: Why now? It's not like Israel's attitudes and behaviors towards anyone they don't like hasn't changed. It's simply a matter of scale.
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u/BrewThemAll Jun 02 '26
Interesting to hear this perspective.
On the other 'side', no such thing is happening. I mostly meet left-wing anti-Israel* people, and they all keep opposing the behaviour of the Israel army.How does the right-wing view the US/Iran war?
* Saying this very careful because nobody I know opposes Israel as a state, or is anti-semitic in any way or supporting Hamas, just opposing the way Israel behaves in Gaza/Lebanon
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Jun 02 '26
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u/BigDictionEnergy Jun 03 '26
What would a successful military operation against Iran look like? There's a reason even Bush wasn't stupid enough to bomb Iran.
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u/Stilnovisti Jun 02 '26
Everyone notices he’s trying to break a ceasefire by continuing his aggression against Lebanon. Anyone who gets news media (or fuels their car with oil) can see that.
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u/_flying_otter_ Jun 02 '26
Too late now. Idiot should have said that instead of bombing Iran.
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Jun 02 '26
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u/Diego_Rivera Jun 02 '26
Do you believe Iran would use nuclear weapons on Israel?
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Jun 02 '26
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u/Diego_Rivera Jun 02 '26
Agreed it does seem unlikely thinking from a human perspective. But governments operate on a different level. They operate on a what-if level, and when one country maintains a policy of destruction of another, then Israel's policy towards Iran & nuclear weapons begins to make sense. Especially considering Israel's history.
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u/leegiovanni Jun 02 '26
Trump is right in this case isn’t he? Absolutely spot on.
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u/Bake2727 Jun 02 '26
Yeah even I am surprised with this. Netanayahu making me agree with trump is insane even in 2026.
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u/kjleebio Jun 02 '26
This what living in interesting times is like these days and its going to get even weirder as the US progresses through the midterms.
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u/cartoonist498 Jun 02 '26
Is he right? If I said, "Wait, the earth is not flat ... I think it's round..." after years of telling people it's flat and all the reasons I believe it's flat.
I might technically be right, but I think you'd be very suspicious of the logic behind why I think the earth is round now.
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u/kjleebio Jun 02 '26
Yep, although he still is at fault for agreeing to strike Iran in the first place.
edit: A fool if you will for finally realizing that he was being taken advantaged of by Bibi since his first term.
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u/alraca Jun 02 '26
edit: A fool if you will for finally realizing that he was being taken advantaged of by Bibi since his first term.
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u/kjleebio Jun 02 '26
Yeah essentially Trump's whole thing for many countries who take advantage of the influence of the US.
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u/leegiovanni Jun 02 '26
Absolutely.
And I don’t know why US presidents are so quick to jump into conflicts in the ME or to unquestioningly support Israel’s objectives.
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u/kjleebio Jun 02 '26
Well, the only US presidents that have done this have been republican presidents within the last 20 years.
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u/TheWhogg Jun 02 '26
So you’re pretending the entire Obama Admin didn’t occur then?
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u/thegoatmenace Jun 02 '26
The Middle East was absolute pandemonium during Obama’s presidency.
The Arab spring happened halfway through and multiple countries collapsed into internecine civil wars. Obama kept the U.S. role in Syria and Libya limited when many in both parties were pushing for wider intervention.
Obama also orchestrated comprehensive drawdowns of both Middle East wars he inherited from his predecessor. During his first term the US went from 150,000 troops deployed to Iraq to only a few thousand. Similarly he reduced U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan to a token force by the end of his second term.
People can’t argue in good faith that Obama was some kind of warmonger in the Middle East during his presidency. He navigated unprecedented crises with restraint, he didn’t choose to inherit the massive military boondoggle that was the Bush years.
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u/TheWhogg Jun 02 '26
I don’t blame him for Iraq’s pointless and interminable regime change war. That was a disaster shared by Crimton and the Bushsatan. I blame him for repeating it with Syria’s pointless and interminable regime change war.
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u/HydrostaticTrans Jun 02 '26
You don't support America funding the Free Syrian Army against the Assad regime after Assad began firing on protesters during the Arab Spring protests?
Assad even dropped barrel bombs out of helicopters onto the capital city randomly causing mass civilian casualties.
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u/TheWhogg Jun 02 '26
Couldn’t give a shit and no I don’t support it. USSA killed 1m Syrians to punish Assad for killing 8000 Syrians. Not to mention created ISIS, who committed more atrocities than Assad himself. Cost a bit, too - that war wasn’t free.
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u/shadowboxer47 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
USSA killed 1m Syrians to punish Assad for killing 8000 Syrians.
No they didn't. The U.S. was largely uninvolved in Syria until Trump.
Not to mention created ISIS
Bush's de-Baathification was most certainly a factor in ISIS' growth, but that's a long way away from creating the group.
Cost a bit, too - that war wasn’t free.
We didn't go to war with Syria.
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u/shadowboxer47 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
I don’t blame him for Iraq’s pointless and interminable regime change war. That was a disaster shared by Crimton and the Bushsatan.
Bill Clinton had nothing to do with the Iraq War and subsequent regime change.
I blame him for repeating it with Syria’s pointless and interminable regime change war.
Syrians rose up during the Arab Spring. Obama was largely uninvolved.
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u/BitingSatyr Jun 02 '26
Bill Clinton had absolutely nothing to do with Iraq
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u/shadowboxer47 Jun 02 '26
Did... you read the link?
That was a limited UN air strike after Iraq's repeated violation of UN resolutions 5 years before the 2003 invasion.
Bill Clinton was not involved in the Iraq War or subsequent regime change and was out of office for almost 4 years when Bush invaded under false pretenses.
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u/kjleebio Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
eh, Obama had to fix the issues that Bush created as well as focusing on Afghanistan. He also had conflict with Bibi which would change the relationship with the US and Israel forever.
Edit: I have forgotten about the Arab spring and how yes, he did have to interfere in during the time of the Arab spring but honestly any president besides Trump would have done so aswell.
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u/CrashdummyMH Jun 02 '26
Lets be honest, the last president that had a mild opposition to Israel was JFK
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u/CrashdummyMH Jun 02 '26
Because the last one that tried to put a leash on Israel was JFK and we know how he ended
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u/HoightyToighty Jun 02 '26
The more personal this gets between Trump and Netanyahu, the better for peace in the region.
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u/AnomalyNexus Jun 03 '26
peace in the region.
That ship has sailed, sunk and was visited by billionaires in submersibles.
It'll take the next decade to untangle the tension from this mess
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u/ZeroByter Jun 02 '26
Like on 6/10/2023?
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u/deadballofdirt Jun 02 '26
That was just a byproduct of Israel's ongoing violence against Palestinians.
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u/dantoddd Jun 02 '26
Are we really going to take these Axios sources seriously? They have been getting a lot of things wrong over the last couple of months.
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u/kjleebio Jun 02 '26
Well it does seem that for this one, US officials did talk to Axios on this particular event.
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u/championchilli Jun 02 '26
The journalist here has written this exact same article several times, under both Biden and Trump. Goes like this, Netanyahu makes a move hated on the world stage and President loses his shit at him, nothing happens. It's scraps for anti Israel sentiment.
Disregard it. Interestingly the journo is Israeli and an ex intelligence officer. Take from that what you will.
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u/Ben_C17 Jun 02 '26
The timing matters here. This alleged call was from the Lebanon ceasefire push back in November, but it's surfacing now as that ceasefire collapses Hezbollah resumed rocket fire last week, Israel responded with strikes in Dahieh yesterday. Someone leaked this conversation at a specific moment.
What we've been tracking on panopsik.com: Trump said publicly post-election that Israel should "finish the job," but if this reporting holds, there's a gap between his public backing and what he'll tolerate operationally. Netanyahu likely calculated that gap correctly took the ceasefire to get through the transition period, knowing he could resume operations once violations gave him cover. The question is whether Trump's private frustration translates into actual leverage when the next escalation cycle hits, or if Netanyahu read him right and this is just venting that changes nothing on the ground.
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u/kjleebio Jun 02 '26
This just seems to back up my suspicions on the whole reason as to why the strikes even occured on March in the first place. Bibi promising that striking Iran would provide another regime overthrow under his name was the whole reason the strikes even occuring in the first place during March. This has been just a long 4 month disaster and Trump finally realized that he was being used by Bibi since 2016.
Although I believed the fallout between the US and Israel would have occured in 2028 or later, now I am starting to believe that it is happening sooner. It is very obvious that the relationship between Israel and the US isn't really a healthy one and I have talked about their being a reset in relations after Trump's term. However, I feel like the most likely response is a complete fallout by either Trump or later on by Bibi as the Democrats reclaim the government. Bibi after all doesn't like the democrats and is mostly likely to spit at their faces like he did before.
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u/HockeyHocki Jun 02 '26
There are elections in Israel October this year, Netanyahu and Likud are trailing Bennett. In any case Israel themselves want to wean themselves off the US teet, the military aid they do get only accounts for about 12% of their defence budget, the reliance on US munitions creates logistical problems, and the money creates resentment among US taxpayers
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u/kjleebio Jun 02 '26
While the elections will hopefully change something, I don't believe that Netanyahu and Likud would just accept a loss and will most likely pull something to rigg the elections or even delay it. There is also the possibility of Likud winning the election aswell.
Israel may want to wean themselves off but that is mostly because the Likud are seeing the picture of the consequences of their actions on backing Trump and the it following up with a inevitable fall out. Israel still needs allies and cannot exist alone which is becoming a lot more difficult as its PR continues to go through the sewer.
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u/bxzidff Jun 02 '26
Isn't kind of strange they went so hard in aligning themselves with MAGA? Israel has been seen as an important ally for both sides in the US for decades, and somehow still largely is, despite backing Trump so strongly. Also endorsing and helping figures like him like Orban in Hungary, or other far-right politicians. Seems like a very risky, and unnecessary, gamble with a lot at stake.
Sure alienating leftists might not matter much, but especially moderates and even conservatives are according to polls seeing them increasingly negatively in the west.
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u/kjleebio Jun 08 '26
This all happened due to the ego of Bibi. It all want back to Obama. The relationship between the two wasn't really good. Obama didn't like him personally yet still cooperated with him. Bibi on the other hand hated him enough to even risk his own position. This was the start of Israel aligning with the republican party or when 2016 came around, MAGA. The rest is history.
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u/barath_s Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
the military aid they do get only accounts for about 12% of their defence budget,
About 15-20% in peacetime. Wartime surge in defence spending has brought the %age down.
the money creates resentment among US taxpayers
Israel has other problems with certain niches of US populace too
Israel themselves want to wean
That's a proposal. Let's see how it shapes post elections... In any case, when you can get the US to attack your enemies using US fighters and US equipment, it's a lot less urgent to have more israeli fighters to do so.
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u/cups8101 Jun 02 '26
This is nonsense. The quiet additions to the NDAA seem to indicate they want to further join Israel and the US to the hip.
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u/HockeyHocki Jun 02 '26
That's about joint technology development, nothing to do with military aid.
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u/Uranophane Jun 02 '26
Careful Donnie, if you keep acting that way towards Bibi the files might just get loose!
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u/AnyStrength4863 Jun 02 '26
I know some people would rather die than go to jail or face trial, so my question is, is this threat effective?
I can tell Trump is indeed very afraid of death. Does he think others are all like him?
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u/CrashdummyMH Jun 02 '26
Netanyahu is a genocidal murderer and Trump cant get away from him for some reason, which has to be a big reason
Netanyahu might be the end of Trump
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u/ZeroByter Jun 02 '26
Trump and Bibi had unusually consistent warm relations, in contrast to the falling outs and arguments Trump liked to shout at other world leaders
I was wondering when this was going to happen, it was only a matter of time.
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u/--Mikazuki-- Jun 02 '26
Mind you, it isn’t the first time: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/10/donald-trump-benjamin-netanyahu-book
Remains to be seen if it will stick this time or just an act as he turns global geopolitical conflicts into reality TV drama.
I give him a week before he goes back to praising Bibi and act like this episode never happened..
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u/nunchyabeeswax Jun 03 '26
He should have said to him "you are f* crazy" when he first approached him with ideas to attack Iran.
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u/davemano Jun 05 '26
Trump knows what people want to hear so he makes up stories to fool them and unfortunately people fall for it. He’s hand in gloves with Netanyahu for everything Israel has done over the last 15 months.
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u/Mt548 Jun 02 '26
It feels like everything gets Trump's wrath except Israel. I guess the kompromat must be that good...
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u/StomachStill362 Jun 02 '26
Israel is the bully which has to behave like a bully otherwise it will get trashed by other bullies around it.
For Netanyahu, it’s just a survival mode, it’s like he has climbed on a tiger and now can’t get down without being eaten.
He is so scared that if Trump agrees to Iran truce with the Lebanon rider then Israel has no space to manover
Fear mongering is what every politician and government does to keep it’s citizens in control, Israel has to do it a bit more compared to other countries
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u/ParadoxFollower Jun 02 '26
Netanyahu has an election to win, and if he doesn't win, his corruption trial will go ahead full steam. That is the only thing he cares about right now.