Trump to Netanyahu: Without the US, There Would Be No Israel
Cracks in the relationship between the United States and Israel are becoming increasingly visible. This was demonstrated when US President Donald Trump delivered a stinging rebuke, claiming that Israel would not exist were it not for his significant role.
Trump made the remarks to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France. The tension was triggered by Trump’s mounting frustration with his close ally, particularly amidst US efforts to finalise a peace deal with Iran. Previously, on 28 February, Trump and Netanyahu had jointly ordered a combined military strike to cripple Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
“Without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did,” Trump said while speaking alongside Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Évian-les-Bains, France.
Trump asserted that Israel would have been destroyed long ago had he not intervened. Although he denied that his relationship with Netanyahu was fraying, Trump harshly criticised the brutality of recent Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, which he deemed to have killed too many innocent civilians.
“I saw the attack, I saw where the bombs fell. It was very cruel. You don’t need to bring down an entire apartment building every time you’re looking for someone, because there are a lot of people in there and I’m sure they’re not all Hezbollah,” Trump condemned, warning Netanyahu to act more responsibly.
Meanwhile, news of a potential peace deal between the US and Iran has raised concerns among some circles in Israel. Several parties in Israel fear Iran will gain greater advantages from the agreement. Sharp criticism from domestic military experts has also begun to surface, including from Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS). He assessed that the current Trump administration has given everything away too cheaply at the expense of Israel’s long-term stability.
“The US government is giving everything away cheaply, providing billions of dollars to the regime to strengthen its domestic grip and continue funding their proxies, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, without demanding real and irreversible concessions in return,” Kuperwasser told Newsweek.