President Donald Trump lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an expletive-laden phone call on Monday over Israel’s planned escalation in Lebanon, two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call told Axios, even as Trump publicly thanked the Israeli leader hours later for standing down from a major strike on Beirut.
“You’re [expletive] crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your [expletive]. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” a White House official summarized Trump’s comments to Netanyahu.
The heated exchange came after Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz issued a joint order earlier Monday to bomb Hezbollah targets in Dahieh, the southern Beirut suburb that serves as the Iran-backed group’s stronghold. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned in response that Israeli operations in Lebanon would constitute a violation of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, and Tehran’s negotiating team reportedly halted message exchanges with Washington through mediators.
A senior U.S. official told Axios that Trump felt Netanyahu’s threats against Beirut were going too far. Israeli officials said the planned strikes were called off following the call. Around noon Monday, Trump and Netanyahu held what one U.S. official described as a long conversation focused on the escalating Lebanon crisis and the parallel talks with Iran.
The public framing from the White House was strikingly different. In a Truth Social post Monday, Trump wrote that he had asked Netanyahu “not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon,” adding, “He turned his Troops around. Thank you Bibi!” Trump said he had also spoken with representatives of Hezbollah leaders, who agreed to stop firing on Israel, and that Israel had agreed in turn to halt strikes on the group. “Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!” Trump wrote.
The Lebanese Embassy in Washington said Hezbollah had accepted a U.S. proposal for a “mutual cessation of attacks,” and that Trump informed Lebanon’s ambassador he had secured Netanyahu’s agreement. The framework, proposed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calls for Israel to suspend planned strikes on Beirut in exchange for Hezbollah halting attacks on northern Israel, with a phased expansion of the ceasefire to follow.
Netanyahu offered a more guarded account. In a Hebrew-language statement issued roughly two hours after Trump’s announcement, the prime minister said he had told Trump that “if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our cities and civilians, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut. This position remains unchanged.” He added that the IDF would continue operating in southern Lebanon “as planned.”
Monday’s clash marked at least the third time this year that Axios has reported sharp profanity from Trump directed at Netanyahu, following earlier reported blow-ups over Gaza negotiations and the Israeli strike on Hamas officials in Doha. A White House official familiar with administration thinking told Axios in late September that “everyone, and I mean everyone, is exasperated with Bibi.”
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