Axios reported Monday that President Donald Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” and berated him for escalation in Lebanon. The story quickly spread across international media, but many experts and analysts question the authenticity of these “behind-the-scenes” accounts.
Ryan Costello, policy director of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), noted that political observers increasingly “mock” reports of private tirades. “What really matters is what happens on the ground,” Costello said.
During both the Biden and Trump presidencies, the press has consistently reported on tense quarrels, yet Washington’s policy toward Israel has remained essentially constant. Isabelle Hayslip, advocacy manager at the human rights group DAWN, said US policy continues to align with Israeli interests.
“The anonymous coverage that portrays Trump as tough, picking up the phone and yelling at Netanyahu for undermining US policy, is completely contradicted by actual policy outcomes, where Netanyahu gets everything he wants,” Hayslip stated.
Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, argued that leaking the tense call may be intended to “defuse” public anger in the US over the conflict with Iran. “It could be a way for them to say: 'Hey, we are very angry with Israel. We yell at them. We curse at them,'” she analyzed. However, she stressed: “Does that change the reality on the ground?”
Costello, for his part, believes the leak primarily targets Iran: “It signals that Trump is serious and wants to decouple Israel’s attacks in Lebanon from negotiations with Iran.”
Despite the verbal back-and-forth, US military aid to Israel continues. Since Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in October 2023, the US has provided nearly $25 billion in military assistance, defended Israel against retaliatory Iranian attacks, and vetoed multiple ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council.
On Monday, the same day Axios published its report, an Israeli strike on the town of al-Marwaniyah in southern Lebanon killed six people, including two children.
According to Al Jazeera, in the context of hybrid warfare, all parties in the conflict with Iran are trying to shape public perception. “It is an information war that includes disinformation, half-truths, and strategic leaks,” Mortazavi concluded.
