US President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a 'great guy' who 'gets excited sometimes' and acknowledged a 'disagreement' over Lebanon, saying he told Netanyahu to be 'gentler.' According to Israeli media reports from the G7 summit, Trump said 'we are the ones who decide,' asserting a dominant role in the partnership.
At the G7 summit on Wednesday evening, US President Donald Trump offered a mixed assessment of his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him a 'great guy' who 'gets excited sometimes' while detailing a 'disagreement' over Israel's tactics in Lebanon.
Trump said he advised Netanyahu to 'be gentler with Lebanon and not take down a building with a Hezbollah man inside it.' The remarks echo a pattern of public guidance from the US president on Israel's northern campaign, which he has previously described as a 'mini-war' and suggested Syria could handle.
'The partnership is good,' Trump said, 'but he is the smaller part of the partnership, and we are the ones who decide.' The comment appears to assert a hierarchical dynamic in US-Israel relations, framing the administration as the senior partner.
As The Zioneer reported minutes earlier (19:17 and 19:18), Trump urged Netanyahu to be 'gentler in Lebanon' in the same appearance. The remarks come against a backdrop of weeks of US pressure on Israel to adopt more surgical tactics against Hezbollah, a divergence the president has aired publicly on multiple occasions since the morning.
7 developments
- StrongTrump says Netanyahu 'gets excited,' acknowledges 'disagreement' on Lebanon tactics
- DevelopingTrump says Netanyahu is a 'very tough man'; Iran claims ceasefire includes Lebanon
- StrongNetanyahu tells Trump southern Lebanon strikes 'light casualties' so far, expects Hezbollah to hold fire
- StrongTrump says he hopes the Lebanon situation can be resolved, acknowledges Hezbollah
Source and signal
- Internal intake