The US president Donald Trump He is outraged with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But the question is whether he will be angry enough to do something about it. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump has told several of his assistants in recent weeks that Netanyahu prefers to use military force to force Hamas to surrender, instead of the method preferable to the US president, that is, a truce through negotiations. His frustration reached its climax last week, a few hours after attack Israel against Hamas executives in Qatar.

“Me—” Trump said of Netanyahu, according to officials, WSJ notes. Trump was discussing with his senior assistants, including Foreign Minister Marco Rubio on how to respond to Israeli attacks. Occasionally Trump’s intense emotions for Netanyahu have caused questions in Washington. Why is Trump, who prefers to maintain the upper hand in his relationships, is he willing to let Netanyahu act constantly contrary to his desires?

“It’s a little weird and contradictory,” said Salom Lipner, who has served seven successive Israeli prime ministers in their offices for over 25 years and is now working at the Atlantic Council, a Think Tank based in Washington. ‘Netanyahu’s movements have extended the war to Gauzethey have created problems for Trump with other US allies in the region and have made it extremely difficult to expand Abraham’s agreements, “Lipner said, referring to normalizing Israel’s relations with Arab countries.

Trump has occasionally used a hard language for Netanyahu, among other things, after congratulations of the Israeli leader to Joe Biden for his victory in the 2020 presidential election, when he told a journalist that he considered the Israeli leader unfaithful:

However, Trump’s criticism seems to have not deterred Netanyahu or weakened him. “I am confused, like many other Israelis,” said Itamar Rabinovic, a former Israeli ambassador to the US during the presidency of Clinton. “He is under siege and makes mistakes. All that really helps him is Trump’s support. “

Trump’s indignation has not turned into any form of public pressure, WSJ stresses: he refused to use the huge US military and political support for Israel, as well as his warm personal relationships with Netanyahu. On the contrary, he chose to remain unaccounted for as Israel launches a mass attack in the city of Gaza and to watch the prospects of the peace agreement lose ground.

The White House refused to comment, WSJ notes.

A senior Israeli official described the relations between Netanyahu and Trump as excellent and that the references that support the opposite are “fake news”. The interests and values ​​of the US and Israel are closely linked, the official added.

One reason is that Trump and Netanyahu are like -minded, according to people who know them, the WSJ adds. They both believe that they have been prosecuted by elites in their countries, including criminal crims, and they also consider themselves as an underdog fighting with a corrupt system.

Omer Dostr, a former Netanyahu spokesman, described the relationship between the two as “very close”.

Another reason for maintaining warm relationships is the influence of the Israeli leader in Congress and Republican media. Netanyahu is often found with US officials in Israel, and his interviews with US media in recent months have been given mainly to channels watched by Trump supporters, such as Fox News, Newsmax and OAN.

While Democrats’ support for Israel has declined dramatically in recent years, it remains high among Republicans. A Gallup poll in July showed that 2/3 of Republicans have a positive view of Netanyahu, as opposed to 9% of the Democrats.

‘Republicans want to see a success against her Hamas“, Said Averher Golov, a former senior director of the Israeli National Security Council and current vice -president of Mind Israel, a non -profit -based security -based security organization.

In the meantime, some cracks have begun to appear in Israel’s strong support by the Republicans. Members of Trump’s Maga Alliance have openly criticized Israel, in particular Netanyahu, arguing that the ongoing conflict in Gaza threatens to involve the US even further in the conflict. MP Marjori Taylor Greene, a Republican of Georgia and Trump’s faithful ally, accused July Israel of “genocide” in Gaza.

In the meantime, Trump does not want to publicly interrupt his relations with Netanyahu. He is proud of his close ties with Netanyahu and his support for Israel, according to US officials, the WSJ notes. He often boasts of Abraham’s agreements, for which he intervened during his first term and continues to push for improving relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia in a large diplomatic achievement he wants to achieve.

Netanyahu also finds ways to win the favor of Trump’s narrow circle and flatter the president immediately. On Saturday, Netanyahu, along with the US ambassador to Israel Mike Hakabi, participated in a foundation ceremony for the name of a street in Bat Yam in honor of Trump.

In fact, Netanyahu has formed a relationship in which it can temporarily risk Trump’s rage, knowing that it will not last. Netanyahu has often referred to Trump as “the best friend Israel ever had in the White House”.

“Netanyahu knows that, although the White House may protest a little, there is in fact no disadvantage in the approach of” forgiveness, not permission, “said Damian Murphy, former Democratic Personnel Director to the Senate Committee.

After the attack on Qatar, Trump held two telephone conversations with Netanyahu, in the first expressed his dissatisfaction and in the second he had a more friendly debate over whether Israel’s attack was successful. Later, Trump spoke with Qatar leaders, praising the country for the mediation of negotiations between Israel and Hamas and that he is a stable US ally who hosts a large US military presence in the Middle East.

Netanyahu insists that the war can only end after Hamas handed over its weapons and releases the rest of the 48 hostages, and the leadership of the terrorist organization, as it has been described by the US, abandoned Gaza. If Hamas does not accept these demands, Israel will force her to fully surrender with air and land attacks, in a strategy that is not in line with Trump’s vision for a negotiating end to the nearly two -year conflict.

However, the only obvious pressure that Trump had exerted on Hamas, who attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering the war. The US president has repeatedly warned that Hamas will face further violence.

Rubio traveled to Israel This week to meet Netanyahu directly, but he did not express any new criticism of Israel for the attack. Netanyahu flatly refused to rule out the possibility of future attacks on neighboring countries aimed at Hamas, who has members involved in the ceasefire negotiations in Egypt and Turkey.

Netanyahu said his country has long targeted foreign territory people who consider responsible for terrorist attacks on Israel: “This is the principle we have established. It’s a beginning we follow. It has not changed. “

But the blow to Qatar came at an inappropriate time for the US.

Trump will go to the UN General Assembly next week to give a speech and is expected to refer to his peacekeeping efforts. So far, however, the Trump government has not been able to prevent allies such as the United Kingdom, France and Canada from their plans to recognize a Palestinian state, a decision that, according to the US, prevents peacekeeping efforts as it strengthens Hamas’ position.

“There will be a reaction from Israel to these moves,” Rubio said Monday, along with Netanyahu. The statement was made a few hours before Israel began a new attack on the city of Gaza, with the aim of destroying what Netanyahu calls Hamas’s “last major fort”, while Israel is considering attaching parts of the occupied West Bank.

It is recalled that the US president said last week that he had not been informed in advance of the Israeli attack on Qatar. Last week, however, White House spokesman Caroline Levit announced that Trump had learned about the operation from the US Army, who was watching the Israeli attack in real time.

The US president then asked Steve Whitkov to inform the Qatarians, but his notice arrived after Israel had already thrown bombs in Doha.

In the end, however, the biggest problem with the Qatar attack was perhaps the fact that he was not successful, said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to Netanyahu. Israel aimed at Hamas’s top negotiators, but instead killed six lower -level representatives, according to Hamas.

“If our business in Doha had succeeded, Trump would not have condemned her, but she would have received the credit for her,” Oren said. “He likes the winners.”

The same logic may apply to Gaza. “There must be someone who stands with an Israeli flag and say we won,” Oren said. “I think Netanyahu understands this for Trump.”