Donald Trump is apparently not happy with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and who can blame him? Credible reports from multiple sources say Netanyahu personally sold Trump a line on defeating Iran, saying it’d be an easy war that’d bolster his popularity and grant him a place as one of America’s greatest presidents.
Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli diplomat, said Netanyahu gave Trump the following sales pitch:
“The Iranian economy is in shambles. The people are on the precipice of revolt. The Revolutionary Guards are losing control. Life in Iran is intolerable. This is our time. What we could do together is bring down the regime … think that together, jointly, we can win the war in three, four days.’”
Netanyahu is also said to have leapt upon Trump’s Venezuela raid, saying Iran would be similarly easy:
“He said to him: ‘Look what you did in Venezuela. It was painless. It was effortless. It was beautiful. You changed the regime.”
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but things haven’t exactly worked out the way Netanyahu said they would. His “easy” war almost instantly became extremely difficult, and as the months stretch on with no strategic goals achieved, Trump is now said to be “very disappointed” with Netanyahu.
Trump freezes out Netanyahu
Tucker Carlson says he told Trump to his face: "Netanyahu hates you. Rupert Murdoch despises you. Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin – they all hate you. The people pushing you into this war want to destroy you. On behalf of Israel."
— Ounka (@OunkaOnX) May 8, 2026
And Trump's response? "Yeah, I know." pic.twitter.com/VvZwqUIiF1
A report in The Guardian details how Israel has been frozen out of ongoing discussions on the Iran war, and is being purposefully excluded from the peace talks in Pakistan. That’s probably wise, as Netanyahu appears to be doing everything in his power to sabotage any attempts at peace, including the continued bombing and invasion of Lebanon.
In this instance, we don’t have to theorize that Trump is upset: we have his own words that show he’s lost patience with Netanyahu:
“Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!”
But it seems Trump can only go so far with criticizing Netanyahu, as it will inevitably reverberate back on him. As Pinkas explained
“The problem Trump has is that if he lashes out at Netanyahu, if he expresses his disillusionment or desperation, he basically admits he was led into this war. … This affects Netanyahu politically and this affects Trump politically. In other words, they have screwed each other pretty badly.”
Both men are facing critical elections later this year: Trump in the November midterms and Netanyahu in a mandatory election he’s on track to lose. Here’s hoping they both end 2026 miserable and bitter.
Published: May 11, 2026 05:43 am