Has Netanyahu Trump relationship hit ‘ROCK BOTTOM’ after ‘EXPLOSIVE’ call?

I think the leak of the call, and this has made a lot of people very, very angry, is very embarrassing for Benjamin Netanyahu.Very demeaning, very humiliating.

It was, by and large, the most tense conversation those two gentlemen have ever had.Ever had.Have ever had, absolutely.And they have quite a history.

So what you're really saying, Amit, is that the relationship between these two friends who went to war together on the 28th of February has really hit rock bottom.

Hello and welcome to Trump World.I'm Aneesh Garistana in Washington, D .

C.And I'm Atra in London, back again.Nice to be back with you, Anoushka.The thing that we're all talking about in Trump world is this extraordinarily expletive -laden conversation between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, where Trump is upset with the Israelis for not obeying the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, which he fears will jeopardize the deal that he's trying to concoct between Washington and Tehran.And obviously, this matters to him politically enormously.And this conversation really is quite something.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in so many conversations, but especially this one, because according to the Axios reporters, Trump was swearing at Netanyahu, dropping some F -bombs, and now we're going to hear later on from Amit Segal, a very prominent Israeli journalist who's very close to Netanyahu, who told me that actually the exact language reported, and he'll tell us about that in a moment, was inaccurate.But the general spirit of the conversation, he said, was it was the worst it's ever been between those two.

Yeah, kind of.amazingly explosive.It dropped from Axios, as you say, from Barack Ravid, who we know is a journalist who has very good sources among those who are negotiating deals with Iran.He's often bringing out stories based on senior US officials.He has got twoU .S. officials

S.officials and another source who've got knowledge of this call.Let me just run you through what Ravid said in his piece and then obviously, as you said, it has been suggested that this wasn't quite how it went.But two other sources claimed that Trump said he had helped to keep Netanyahu out of jail, which is all about the corruption trial, which isn't going to happen as long as he is Prime Minister and this war is ongoing.And Ravid had a summary of what one of the officials, how they suggested the call had gone, and these were the words they put.You're effing crazy.

You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass.Everybody hates you now.Everybody hates Israel because of this.And apparently yelled at one point, according to these sources, what the eff are you doing?Now, as you say, conversation you've had and that we're going to hear from an Israeli journalist suggests a slightly calmer take but unquestionably after the call we saw Truth Social from Donald Trump and a tweet from Benjamin Netanyahu that definitely suggested things were very, very tense.And they're tense because Netanyahu wants to continue attacks in Lebanon, wanted to attack Beirut, and that would derail Trump's hope for a peace plan.

How do you read it, Matt?

Well, a couple of things.First of all, the F -word being used by Donald Trump would hardly be a big surprise.Remember, he used the F -word quite publicly on camera, on the mic, on the tarmac after the 12 -day war last June, when he thought the war was over.And then the Israelis continued to attack Iran.And he more or less said, what the F do you think you're doing?Stop this.

And they did.And so I think in a sense, the language that was used is not as important as the point.that Trump was trying to make, especially in that rather polite post on Truth Social where he said, yeah, these were tough, more than paraphrasing it, these were tough negotiations.and I told the Israelis to stop what they were doing, and they did.And then he goes on to say something quite interesting.He says, and by the way, I've had indirect talks through their representatives with Hezbollah about this.

Now, this is the first time that an American president has ever admitted to talking to Hezbollah indirectly or directly.In fact, it may be the first time they've ever actually done that.So he's kind of saying to the Israelis, watch out.You know, observe my red lines, because if you don't, you're jeopardizing the ceasefire deal on which my reputation and my future hinges, as well as the gas prices of America.And by the way, you know, it takes three to tango and one of the third party in this is Hezbollah, which, as you know, were cut out of the you know, the peace negotiations held in Washington between the Lebanese government and the Israeli government, with Washington broking.And we always thought at the time, this is a crazy negotiation because the other warring party, Hezbollah, aren't even around the table.

How can this possibly work?And so Trump has shifted a little bit on this, and I think he's put the Israelis on notice.And of course, the real issue here, and by the way, Netanyahu has been getting it in the neck from just about everyone in Israel, is does Israel have the power, the sovereign power to continue fighting?when it feels the need to do so.And clearly they feel the need to take out Hezbollah completely.They feel the need to finish the unfinished business of Iran.

But if America tells them to stop, they also feel the need to stop at the moment.And that puts Netanyahu in an extremely embarrassing situation.

Yeah, I think the leak of the call, and this has made a lot of people very, very angry, including, you know, some big Israel supporters here in the US.is very embarrassing for Benjamin Netanyahu.Very demeaning, very humiliating.As you say, Donald Trump has used the F -bomb before, but I've never really seen a suggestion of a call quite as vicious as this.And obviously it's because there are different goals here on either side, different goals for the US and different goals for Israel.I mean, you and I have spoken quite a few times to former diplomats who have described how Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly come to the US, repeatedly asked American presidents to bomb Iran.

I mean, this is what he has wanted for many, many years and almost always has been told no.So would have been absolutely delighted when Donald Trump said, yes, let's go ahead, let's do this.It's led to a schism in the right of American politics in which we've seen some really high profile critical figures when it comes to Israel, whether it's a commentator like Tucker Carlson or whether it was somebody who was inside the administration like Joe Kent move away from Donald Trump and be extremely critical of Israel.I do think though one interesting thing is that means that the people he's now listening to, the people who are close to him, the people like Mark Levine, the people like you know, the Senator Lindsey Graham, are the ones who are very, very supportive of Israel.And it's interesting to see what they're saying at the moment.So Lindsey Graham has basically said that in Trump one, He said this on Twitter.

It was really clearly stated policy that Iran should not be allowed to continue to support terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah without consequences.And he's saying, I would urge Trump to to continue with that policy.Any deal that does not punish Iran in the future for supporting groups like Hezbollah, you know, who say they want to destroy Israel would be a huge missed opportunity.Mark Levine is saying that there needs to be a huge leak inquiry intowhere this, you know, call came to Barack Ravid from and is absolutely furious about it.Do you think that Trump saying this shows that he's perhaps frustrated with the way things have gone in terms of who's supporting him at the moment here in the US?

Oh, God, yeah, he must be.I mean, I don't actually think he cares that much about the midterm elections.I think what he cares about is is cohesion and unity within his Republican Party.That's why he's conducted the primaries in the way that he's done.That's why he supported Ken Paxton, you know, the the firebrand lieutenant general of Texas with a very dodgy legal history who took on John Cornyn, the longstanding senator of Texas, who's very pro -Trump.took him on and defeated him in the primaries.

This is Trump saying, basically, I don't give a stuff about the middle, which is why he says strange things like I don't care about your affordability crisis.All I care about is that the Republican Party is terrified of me. I am the boss.But, you know, it comes back to the original sin of this crisis.You start a war, you know, by making up the reasons one after another.And you think it's going to be over in three days, rather like the Russians thought with Ukraine.And three months later, here we still are almost three months later.

And I think this is such a problem for Trump, because he can't walk away.thanks to the Strait of Hormuz being an Iran stranglehold.He can't just walk away and say, we've got peace, because it wouldn't be a peace.He's always conscious of the Israelis, even if they rely on American support, of suddenly going in either into southern Lebanon or into Iran with another bombing raid and reigniting the whole conflict.He is literally a hostage to a fortune made elsewhere.And for the author, in inverted commas, of The Art of the Deal, that is a disaster.

So I wonder how he deals with that.I mean, and by the way, Anoushka, you know this more than I do, who the hell is..you know, facts to fantasy, truth to power inside the White House these days?

Well, a lot of people would say that the Iran hawk, the person who really pushed on this was Trump.But of course, we know the people we've mentioned, like Lindsey Graham, like Mark Levin and other people who are still talking to him.I'm really interested in how much power someone like Susie Wiles has, the chief of staff, because clearly what she's worrying about are the midterms, even if Donald Trump says he doesn't care about them right now or care about much right now.It seems to be the main focus for him right now is building his fighting ring on the back at the White House while he's telling reporters he doesn't care about pretty much anything else.He's even said this morning he doesn't care about the Iran negotiations.But look, he has to care.

And actually, as we're speaking right now, his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is in Congress.He's talking to senators.He's answering questions.And it is really interesting because the question they're asking is, is now everything you're going to give to Iran, say sanctions relief, for example, just in return for opening the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before any of this began, to which Marco Rubio is saying, no, no, no, it's not that.We're only going to act on sanctions if they're acting on nuclear.There is an awareness within the administration that reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not enough.

So then the question is, how much will they actually get when it comes to the question of nuclear dust, as Donald Trump has called it, removing it from Iran, taking it elsewhere.I mean, it is clear that they need to be able to present a deal which looks to the world better than what has come before.And that is clearly quite challenging for them at the moment.I mean, presumably, this phone call will look to supporters of Israel like he's capitulating to some extent.But how do you think the Iranians will take it?

Well, I think that's such a good question, though.because, you know, we're dealing with three parties in a war that are all actually quite divided within themselves.So we talked about the divisions within the United States.We've talked a little bit about divisions within Israel.We get onto that with Amit Segal a bit later in the pod, but also divisions within Iran.So on one hand, you've got, you know, the Speaker of the Parliament or the foreign minister saying, Yeah, there's a deal in the offing.

It's just down the pipeline sounding almost as positive as Trump sometimes sounds.And then, you know, the other factions closer to the Revolutionary Guard, who are really kind of running the show at the moment, put their hand up and say, oh, no.Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.We are we know we want full reparations.Otherwise, we're not even going to contemplate opening the Strait of Hormuz.We want to have some kind of toll system, you know, call it contribution security, you know, going forward.

Otherwise, there's no deal.And by the way, don't touch Hezbollah.And we've got to have that ceasefire.I mean, Everyone is speaking with forked tongues here, but the person who does it most obviously most publicly and most erratically is Donald Trump because he can't keep his mouth shut.He can't just keep his finger from the phone, which must be deeply frustrating for the designated adults if there are any left around him.But I just wonder, You know, I mean, we could have months of this, Anoushka.

Can you imagine going into the midterm elections with this stuff still going on?

I mean, it is really problematic, especially if it's having an impact on the cost of living of Americans.And, you know, just I've just come over from Congress where I was speaking to a lot of people working for various senators and congressmen.And there is a view that this is going to be very problematic for Republicans.In fact, one Republican congressman was thinking they don't really have a chance in the House.And they're very worried about the Senate, which is one of the reasons why Donald Trump will want to get it done.I mean, if he cares about the midterms possibly not but he cares about his UFC fight which is coming quite soon and he doesn't want to miss it.

overhanging when that happens.So it's almost like you can't believe what's happening here when you look at what they're building on the White House and how Washington DC is changing in front of our very eyes.But yeah, I think it is quite important for him because he's thinking about his legacy to get this done.The thing that's interesting is he will have been told by advisors that in Israel persuading him to go into this war in Iran, that Israel would have wanted to see it through, that it wouldn't be enough for Israel to go in for a while and come out.And the warnings will have been that the more hardline factions within Iran could end up the most dominant ones, which is the direction that it looks like it is going, and with the results that we're warned about.So it does, you know, one of the places where I would love to have been a fly on the wall, is the warnings to Trump when he made this decision in the first place.

Now, I think we should move to this interview with Amit Segal that I recorded earlier.He's a very well -known Israeli journalist for Channel 12 television.He's also very close to Prime Minister Netanyahu.And this is what he had to say.Amit Segal, welcome to the program.Welcome to Trump World.

It's good to have you on the podcast.

Thanks for having me.

So I just want to start off with the latest developments, which is this extraordinary conversation reported by Axios overnight between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, where Trump ends up screaming at your prime minister using a couple of F -bombs.I mean, really quite abrasive language.You've gone F -word crazy.You know, I mean, really, you accusing of stuff that he's never really I think accused him of before.Do you think that's a credible report?And what has led to this degree of anger between these supposedly good friends?

So first of all, I wasn't present on the line.I talked to some people who actually witnessed the conversation from Netanyahu's entourage and from what they are claiming.including having read the transcript following this morning, they claim that while the conversation was tensed, more than ever.President Trump never used the F word and never cursed Netanyahu, never used phrases like, you are hated in the United States.However, he did speak about Israel being in a problematic position in the United States.So what I'm trying to say is, it was, by and large, the most tense conversation those two gentlemen have have ever had?

Ever had.Ever had.Absolutely.And they have quite a history.

So what you're really saying, Amit, is that whether there was an F -bomb dropped or not, that's irrelevant.The point is that the relationship between these two friends who went to war together on the 28th of February has really hit rock bottom.

OK, so here's the thing.I never believed the idea that those two people, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu even know the term friendship.I don't think that alliances in the international arena are based on friendship.I think it's based on interests.and political similarities.And so to actually put it bluntly, I don't think it was as good as it was, as it had been described before.

And I don't think it's as bad as it is now.I think they have mutual interests.I think Trump still wants Netanyahu to get reelected comes October or September in Israel.And I think Netanyahu is fully aware of the fact that without Trump in the Oval Office, He better resign because he is never going to find such aperfect president for him.

Okay, so leaving aside the F -bombs and the friendship, whether it was actually genuine friendship or not, just talking about the interests that you touched on, I put it to you that the fundamental interests in this war are are no longer converging between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.I mean, on an idealistic level, yes, they do.They still want regime change.They want to get rid of the nuclear program.They want to get rid of the ballistic program.But for Trump, the overwhelming need now is to end this war and open the Strait of Hormuz.

And for Netanyahu, and indeed many Israelis, that would be seen as dangerous, unfinished business.

Absolutely.There is actually daylight when it comes to two major issues.One is Lebanon and the second is Iran.We began this war under the assumption that it's never going to end unless Iran is going to give up its entire ballistic missiles, the funding of the proxies, and of course, first and foremost, the nuclear weapon.However, over the last few weeks, President Trump literally gave up the proxies and the ballistic missile industry.Now, here's the thing.

He hasn't given up yet his demands regarding the nuclear weapon, the enriched uranium, aka the nuclear dust, as he defines it.If he does it, and there is a suspicion in Israel, it necessarily means that his interests are different than Israel's.For me, I have to admit, it reminds a lot this 2026 war, the 1956 war that was mutual for the United Kingdom and Israel.in the Suez Canal.While Britain and France came to this war with one strategic goal, which is retaking the Suez Canal, for Israel it was defeating a bitter enemy.I think the same applies here.

Israel, since it's not an international superpower, has never taken into account the Strait of Hormuz or the energy crisis.But for the United States, the Strait of Hormuz question actually has a lot to do with the energy crisis, etc.That's why it's no longer possible to bury the hatchet between the two countries.However, the only thing that saves Israel and the US from publicizing this conflict is Iran.The fact that Iran has repeatedly refused to each and every compromise actually saved the need for Trump and Netanyahu to have disputes in public.

But the other point here is, of course, the involvement of southern Lebanon and Israel's war against Hezbollah.I mean, it's so interesting, isn't it, that the Iranians have essentially tied the future of the ceasefire and any possible agreement to the war in southern Lebanon stopping.And again, there are divergent interests here.The American public doesn't care about what happens in northern Israel, but people who live in Israel, especially in northern Israel, really care what happens in that part of the world because they're being forced out of their homes in the same way that people who live in the southern suburbs of Beirut or in southern Lebanon deeply care about the future of this world, as indeed does the whole of Lebanon, because it's become a refugee camp even more than it was before as a result of the conflict.Again, how do you resolve this issue?

Okay, so for President Trump, Lebanon is the collateral damage.For Prime Minister Netanyahu, it's almost likeexistential question when it comes to his prospects of getting reelected, because if the north of Israel is bombed, it necessarily means that he's no longer a minister of security, thus losing the median voter in the election in Israel.That's why for Netanyahu, it is very important.While President Trump wonders why dying on this hill?on this northern Israel hill.

That's the reason, in my opinion, for the very heated debate last night between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu.That's exactly the case.And I'm not sure, to say the least, that President Trump was very fully aware of the details.He wasn't into specifics.I'll give you an example.He tweeted, or I don't know what the verb is when it comes to a true social, his social network.

He said that he ordered the Israeli troops to stop moving towards Beirut.Now, I hate to deliver the news to Washington, but there has never been any troops, Israeli troops on the way to Beirut since 1982.it was a in a in a bombardment from the air on the Dachia quarter in Beirut, not more than this.

Right, okay.Essentially, to bring up 1982, it was also in 1982 was the last time Israel occupied the Beaufort Crusader Fort, right, in southern Lebanon.And in 1982, I think it was Menachem Begin who said to Ariel Sharon, who was in charge of the troops at the time, this is a special moment, we're breathing the free air of Beaufort, this is divine, he said.And thus began 18 years of Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, which were, frankly, at the end of the day, so disastrous that a future Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, withdrew thetroops and ended it all.You are committing, or rather your Prime Minister, I'm not blaming you personally, Amit, we're friends, but your Prime Minister is committing the same mistake that was buried by history over again, how many years, you know, almost half a century later.

Here's the thing.Lebanon is a failing state without any leadership or army.And hence comes the question, what do you do when your neighbor's children are wild and are throwing stones at your backyard?So there are two bad options.One is to actually try to take over some of his backyard.The other one is to withdraw from the backyard, hoping that this somehow, miraculously, will actually bring peace and prosperity.

Now, Israel tried both.In 1982, as you have just described, it occupied the Bufor and southern Lebanon.And in the year 2000, it withdrew from Lebanon, thus allowing Hezbollah to actually have strongholds on our very border.

Yeah, but you helped to create Hezbollah with the occupation of southern Lebanon.That's what gave Hezbollah the rocket fuel.

This is one explanation I beg to differ.I think Hezbollah was created not by Israel, but by Iran.

Yeah, but you gave it the seabed, you know, the resentment, the casus belli, call it what you like.

Yes, but before 1982, there was no Hezbollah, but there was the PLO who attacked Israel and made a nightmare out of the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis.What I'm trying to say is that the solution for Lebanon, Israel, I mean, unlike in the Gaza Strip or in Judea and Samaria, aka with the West Bank, no one in Israel is really interested in having settlements in southern Lebanon.No one has, you know, no one has the aspiration to annex southern Lebanon to Israel.It'smerely a security question.So a security demand can be answered by security.

That's why, in my opinion, the most important thing is the negotiations, the direct negotiations for the first time in Israel's history between Israel and Lebanon in Washington, as we speak.And I really hope that the U .S., the U .K., France and Saudi Arabia will assist Lebanon to become for the first time a real country that defends its real borders against enemies.

But hang on a minute.Let's be honest here.The reason why Lebanon is not doing such a good job at controlling Hezbollah, part of the reason, not the entire reason, is that Israel is slowly perhaps unintentionally, but slowly turning Lebanon into a failed state.By occupying the South, by issuing all these population evacuation orders, you have caused a million displaced Lebanese people from the South to live in the center of Beirut and other parts of the country, which is already filled with refugees from other conflicts, by the way.Now, these people don't think that they're just for a couple of weeks.They think that they're going to be put their permanency.

So I get the problem with Hezbollah, but you're doing everything that you can, again, unintentionally or intentionally, to make, to render Lebanon an unviable state, which just perpetuates your problem at the end of the day.

I usually start watching football games from the first half and not the second.This war in Lebanon began three days after Israel had killed Israel and the United States, and killed the Khamenei, the the dictator of Iran.For more than 40 years, there has been a huge debate in Lebanon.Is Hezbollah the protector of the borders of Lebanon, as you hinted, or the protector of the Lord Privy Seal ofIran, of the fundamentalist regime of Iran.I don't think there is any debate anymore.

Those arguments are not heard in Lebanon because everybody understands now that the only reason for Hezbollah to start firing rockets at innocent civilians in Israel on March 3rd, 2026, was because Israel and the United States assassinated the dictator that had murdered 32 ,000 Iranians.That's the number one thing.And that's why, and by the way, hundreds of terrorists of Hezbollah invaded a southern Lebanon in order to invade Israel.So what would you do?Had you known that there are al -Qaeda terrorists who are trying to actually invade London and they have already crossed the French canal?Now, I think that the only reason, the only reason that led to the Israeli invasion into southern Lebanon is the decision of Hezbollah to actually start firing at innocent Western civilians.

I mean, listen, I think we have to beg to differ on this.What I find curious, though, and this gets to the wider point, is that for Israel, especially at the moment, every problem is a nail and every solution is a hammer.There is a, you think, or the government thinks, there's a military solution to all of this.And I just wonder whether that's wise.You know, there's not really been a military solution to Gaza, even though you managed to destroy 80 % of the buildings in Gaza.Hamas is still operating there.

They're still flaunting their guns and rubbing them in your face.They're still a presence.The same thing with Lebanon.You invade the place, as you did in 1982, you occupy it.Even if it's not Port Hezbollah, it'll be something else.The only time when Israel has been felt safe and secure was when you have done political deals with your neighbors, whether it's Jordan and Egypt,

or the Abraham Accords.These countries all used to hate you, they invaded you.Now you're friends with them, sometimes better than not so good.But isn't that the point that you have to have a political solution in this very tight neighbourhood, and a military solution alone just doesn't work?

Well, there has been a solution, a political solution.Israel signed an agreement with Lebanon on November 2024, according to which Israel operates southern to the Litani River and the Lebanese army has to operate in order to dismantle Hezbollah northern to the Litani River.However, it failed because the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army are poisoned with They're too weak.

They can't get rid of Hezbollah.They're too weak, but you're making them even weaker.

Israel is the reason why they're weak.Lebanon was established, was formed in 1946.Israel was established only two years later.Is Israel to be blamed for the reason Lebanon was formed by a French and British diplomat?By French and British diplomat, sorry.is a country that mixes Shiite and Sunni, Christians and Jews, Jews and Arabs, etc, etc.

That's the reason Lebanon is a failed country.Just a second.Now, while I'm a huge supporter of political agreements, I'm a huge supporter of the Abraham Accords, I hate to remember that there were some political considerations that failed.For instance, the agreements with the Palestinian Authority.What I'm trying to say is that if you are for political agreements, what I would expect from the international community and the international media is to actually finger pointing the one who is to be blamed for the failure of this, aka the aggressors, and other states of Israel when it comes to the conflict in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has had plenty of blame from media organizations like ours and other governments for doing what they've done.And I don't know what goes on in their heads that they think they can prevail by attacking you three days after February the 28th.I mean, it's bonkers, right?It's a suicide mission.But I guess that is the reality that we're dealing with.I just wonder, you know, on the specific case of Lebanon, which is a country, as you rightly say, that Israel has been negotiating with directly for the first time in a long time, perhaps ever, in Washington just a few weeks ago.

The Lebanese really want to deal with Israel to continue, and they really want to get on well with Donald Trump.One of Donald Trump's in -laws is a Lebanese -Nigerian multi -billionaire tycoon.I mean, there's a real connection there, right?And yet, And yet, I think Israel is not trying hard enough to keep Lebanon as a viable state that could eventually, and it's a bit of a big if, have some control over Hezbollah.They've got a lot of support amongst the population.Again, you're doing the exact opposite to the sensible solution.

You're being counterproductive by bringing out the worst in other people.

So just to make sure I got you right, what you are offering is that Israel will actually have its citizens hit by rockets, hoping that no one is injured, cancelling schools in a one fifth of the country in order that this would somehow lead for the Lebanese country to be stronger.

I mean, no, I'm not offering that and I wouldn't be so presumptuous to offer.I'm just saying that the current solution that Israel has come up with, which is causing huge trauma in Lebanon, not just amongst Hezbollah, but amongst the wider population, making the central government in Beirut weaker, is ultimately as counterproductiveas your 1982 occupation that lasted eight years.

No, the only reason Israel tried to occupy in 1982 southern Lebanon was because the PLO, a Palestinian non -Lebanese organization, killed and massacred Israeli civilians inside Israel using Lebanon as its military base.The same applied for October 7th or October 8th, 2023, the day after the worst massacre since the Holocaust against Jewish population in which Hezbollah out of no reason, no strategic reason, started firing at Israelis.And the same applied for March 2026, in which Hezbollah started firing at Israel.This is the description.And I ask you then again, what would you do if there is a country, a very weak country, I fully agree with you, that from which terrorist organizations keep firing at your civilians?What would you do?

Sitting aside, hoping for somehow the country to do something?Or after 44 consecutive years of failing attempts to try and put together a functioning country and a functioning army and a functioning police, would you somehow manage to try and solve the problem once and for all?I know what I would do, including taking a harsh Western criticism.

I'm not a logistics expert and I'm not a military expert.I'm just wondering whether you're you know, incredible system of, you know, whether it's the Iron Dome or David's Sling, whether that isn't enough to prevent the threat from Hezbollah in the north.

The reason that Israel has a sophisticated anti -missile system is supposed somehow to make it avoid responding to various attempts to kill and murder its citizens.I'm not sure.And more than this, on October 8th, Hezbollah started targeting Israelihouses with anti -tank missiles.Anti -tank missiles.RPG missiles.

What would you do?There isn't an anti -missile system on earth that can actually protect its citizens from this massless weapon.

I want to move on to a really glaring fact, which is, you know, again, getting back to that conversation between Netanyahu and Trump.At the end of the day, what Trump has shown is that he can turn off Netanyahu's tap.He can say, stop this right now or I will not support you in whatever way.So, The point that comes both from Netanyahu's opposition on the right, Ben -Gavir, and, you know, in the center on the left, is that Israel, in the middle of this war, has lost its power over its own sovereignty because the American president is the bigger dog.

Okay, so I have hard times to actually hearing simultaneously that Israel is at the very same time, a vassal state of the United States and the country that talks Trump into invading another country.Is it possible?Maybe, okay.

You can persuade Trump to jump on the bandwagon on October, February the 28th, and then when it goes horribly wrong and the bandwagon veers over the cliff, you have to listen to Trump if he says, stop this now.

OK, so international relationships usually work in a way that the international superpower has more abilities to talk its smaller ally into not doing things or doing things.I think that, I mean, and we are approaching election in Israel.I keep asking Netanyahu's rivals, what would you do differently?Having taken into account the fact that the President of the United Statescan actually be quite persuasive when he speaks and can use the F word, would you avoid entering the war on February 28, knowing that on June 1st and 2nd, he would actually talk you out of or scream you out attacking Beirut?To be honest, if everyone's honest, they wouldn't say so.

So it's a package deal.And Israel is still in the winning side.I do hope, however, that the United States would actually have this impression when this war has already ended around, I don't know, the end of this year, because otherwise it's going to be quite problematic for Israel.

And just one more.I mean, it is also a fact that Israel, which has always been very heavily supported by the American public, is losing a lot of support.In the Prague base, we've seen these real fissures between those vagabond people who are so upset with Israel and this war that they're burning their red hats, and others who are still loyal.Does that worry you at all, that this monolithic support for Israel is fraying badly?

I'm worried, but for two different reasons.One, I don't see, according to the polls, that Israel suffers a heavy loss of support among MAGA supporters.The two problems are among young Republicans under the age of 45 and the Democratic Party.I do think that it has...

That's quite a lot of people, Amit.

A lot.I couldn't agree more.I think there is more to it than meets the eye.I think it's about the very discourse within the United States about the role of the United States in the world.There are many people who have hard times with the role of the United States itself.I do think there is a Qatari money that poisons the minds of millions of young Americans and it should be treated and it should be stopped.

And there is a problem of Israel.I would call it an Israel fatigue.You wake up in the morning in Oklahoma or New York City or San Francisco, keep hearing about a very small country, smaller than New Jersey.And at the end of the day, I just want to stop hearing the name Israel.So I think that once we win this war, once and for all, we should take a 10 year vacation.and they invest in high tech, in tourism, etc.

And I think it would do wonders to the image of Israel.

And Ahmed, if this war is not won, in other words, if Iran continues to be resilient, has a regime that threatens Israel, you know, has a little bit of enriched uranium left, if Hezbollah still continue to threaten you in the north, does that mean that Netanyahu loses the upcoming election?

I would say that if the war in Lebanon continues, as it has gone on over the last few months?Yes, absolutely.However, if Netanyahu takes the uranium, he can get re -elected.But it's too early to call.And I think, to be honest, that the future of this war is way more important than the political career of Benjamin Netanyahu.Amit Segal, thank you very much for joining us.

Thank you so much.

Well, you know, Amit Sehgal has, you know, he's always interesting.If you want to try and get into the mind of Benjamin Netanyahu, he's actually really quite interesting to talk to.Anyway, I've got a question for you, Anoushka.And I don't think anyone really knows the answer.And perhaps you don't know it either.But why on earth did Donald Trump, the father, not go to his son, Don Jr.'s second wedding?

What's that all about?

I mean, it was the most bizarre thing, particularly the way Donald Trump talked about it.I mean, a few days before, he gets asked, are you going to the wedding in the Bahamas?And he sort of says, oh, you know, I'd like to be there.But, you know, it's tricky.I've got a lot going on in the white house.And then said this really bizarre thing at the end of the conversation where he said, you know, I have known him for a long time.

You're like, yeah, you have known your son for a long time.

And the thing that made it more confusing and interesting was the fact that, you know, he spends every weekend away from the White House in Mar -a -Lago playing golf.So it wouldn't have been that weird to be away from the White House.And actually, in terms of the press pool who follows the president around, there was a plan for him to leave Washington, D .C.and be playing golf that weekend that I think was only cancelled at the last moment.Maybe they were looking for a good excuse for him not to go there.

Anoushka, that's it from me in London.And from me in Washington, D .C.See you next time.