Trump 'Ghosts' Netanyahu: Booked Tickets, Left Hanging
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – A number of White House officials were reportedly surprised to read recent Israeli media reports claiming that President Donald Trump would host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. In fact, the reality on the ground shows that no meeting was ever scheduled between the two leaders.
According to an Axios report on Friday (17/7/2026), this diplomatic rift came to light after Netanyahu aggressively sought an official meeting for more than the past two weeks. Notably, Netanyahu had previously visited the Oval Office six times since Trump returned to office a year and a half ago—making him the world leader who has met Trump most frequently, with each previous meeting always arranged within a matter of hours or days.
Trump’s cold reluctance to appear before the cameras alongside Netanyahu is a strong signal of sharply diverging interests between the two. It also reflects how frustrated the White House has become with the Israeli leader, just five months after the two countries jointly launched a military operation.
Earlier this month, Trump stated that Netanyahu had called to congratulate him on America’s 250th Independence Day and requested permission to visit the White House. At the time, Trump indicated the visit could take place immediately after his return from the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, held on 7–8 July. However, as time passed and Trump returned from the summit, a confirmed meeting agenda never materialised.
The uncertainty was compounded by the sad news of former Senator Lindsey Graham’s death on Sunday. Netanyahu’s office immediately informed the press that the Prime Minister wished to attend the funeral and planned to fly to the US this weekend to meet Trump on Monday. The air crew were even ordered to prepare the prime ministerial aircraft, complete with an advance security protocol team sent directly to Washington.
Then, abruptly on Thursday morning, Netanyahu’s office announced the total cancellation of the travel plans, citing the postponement of Lindsey Graham’s funeral proceedings. White House officials revealed the cancellation occurred because a meeting confirmation from Trump’s side had never existed in the first place.
“Our impression is that Bibi (Netanyahu) was trying to force the meeting to happen,” said one White House official.
Behind the scenes, several Israeli officials believe Netanyahu’s decision to cancel his trip was also driven by military calculations. He suspected the US was preparing to intensify strikes on Iran, so Netanyahu chose to remain at home in anticipation of a direct Iranian retaliation against Israel.
Tensions between the two allies were also triggered by Netanyahu’s appearance on Fox News just before Trump departed for Ankara, where he openly criticised the US President’s intention to sell F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey. The interview reportedly left Trump furious, feeling Netanyahu had no right whatsoever to interfere in US foreign policy.
During Trump’s visit to Turkey, Israel submitted intelligence data claiming that senior Iranian officials had ordered their associates to kill the US President while he was in Ankara. The data prompted the Secret Service to tighten security and switch Trump’s aircraft to an older version of Air Force One. However, several US officials later stated that the intelligence was uncorroborated.
“It was more aspirational than operational,” said another US official.
Turkish security services, which conducted an in-depth field investigation, ultimately concluded that there was no specific assassination plot directed at Trump during his time in Ankara. This intelligence incident has further damaged Netanyahu’s image, which is now deeply unpopular in Washington—both among Democrats and within Trump’s inner circle and MAGA base.
Many senior US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have accused Netanyahu of frequently making overly optimistic predictions about the course of the Iran war that failed to match realities on the ground. A tangible political rejection was visible on Wednesday when 103 members of the Democratic caucus in the US House of Representatives surprisingly voted to cut military aid worth $3 billion (Rp 54.4 trillion) to Israel.
This budget cut represents a stern rebuke demonstrating massive rejection of Netanyahu’s government. The pressure has not come from the opposition alone: on the same day, Vice President JD Vance, speaking on Joe Rogan’s podcast, openly accused members of Netanyahu’s government of deliberately undermining the Trump administration’s Iran policy in order to prolong the war.