The pressures and threats, coupled with the insults, taunts, and below-the-belt blows, that U.S. President Donald Trump is landing on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can be seen as the fulfillment of the Israeli Left’s deepest and most obvious desires.

After the Six-Day War, and especially since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the collapse of the Oslo process, most proponents of diplomacy have despaired over the ensuing stalemate, which stems from political paralysis caused by the settler minority and the right-wing public taking over the civic discourse.

They’ve given up hope that the Israeli public, through its elected representatives, will bring about meaningful change and come to a settlement with the Palestinians, which would, of course, entail concessions, compromises, and the return of most of the West Bank territories to establish a Palestinian state there alongside Israel.

As a consequence, they hoped their salvation would come through the intervention of external players. They pinned their hopes particularly on American administrations — both Democratic and Republican — in the expectation that they would promote, or even compel, a settlement with the Palestinians.

Indeed, diplomatic, economic, and military pressures exerted by American presidents, along with threats to reduce or suspend military aid, have been used more than once.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford announced a policy of "reassessment" to force Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to continue the process of gradual withdrawal from Sinai and the interim arrangements. In no small measure, Jimmy Carter’s pressure on Prime Minister Menachem Begin led to the peace agreement with Egypt and the autonomy arrangements with the Palestinians in the territories.

President Ronald Reagan temporarily suspended the delivery of F-16 aircraft in 1981 following the bombing of the nuclear reactor in Iraq.

President George H.W. Bush cautioned Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir that he would not guarantee Israel favorable loans to help absorb the immigration of hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Soviet Union if Israel did not participate in the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference. Shamir bowed to the pressure.

President Bill Clinton compelled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue the Oslo process in 1998 and to agree to an IDF withdrawal from most of the city of Hebron and its transfer to the Palestinian Authority.

About a decade later, Netanyahu was once again forced to fold to American pressure. President Barack Obama confronted him during their very first meeting at the White House in May 2009. Netanyahu, who feared the impending rift, was compelled to declare his acceptance of the two-state solution, provided the Palestinian state was demilitarized, and also agreed to a partial freeze on settlement construction.

During his first term between 2016 and 2020, Trump prevented Netanyahu from annexing the West Bank and compelled him to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state on 70 percent of the territory — a plan he called the "Deal of the Century."

Every American president since the Six-Day War has occasionally voiced scathing public criticism of Israeli prime ministers, and some have also made harsh remarks behind closed doors, each in his own particular way. It was Obama, years before Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who called Netanyahu a liar.

Yet none of them dared go as far as Trump currently does in condemning, insulting, and threatening Israel. Here is a collection of statements, made mostly behind closed doors and leaked by someone in the administration, if not by Trump himself.

During a tense conversation about Lebanon, Trump told Netanyahu: “You’re fucking crazy.” Angered by the continued bombing in Beirut and the regional escalation, the U.S. President told the Prime Minister: “You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me.”

Another of Trump’s comments to Netanyahu: "I am saving your ass." And also: "Everybody hates you now, everybody hates Israel."

But even more than the U.S. President’s harsh and undiplomatic remarks, his actions shape public awareness in Israel. Through the pressure he exerted on Netanyahu’s far-right government, Trump halted the war in Gaza, enforced a ceasefire, and secured the release of the hostages.

After embarking on a joint, though failed, venture in Iran with Netanyahu’s backing, Trump began to distance himself from the Prime Minister and shut him out. He kept Netanyahu completely in the dark during the negotiations for the agreement signed between Washington and Tehran. Trump is also compelling him to halt the war in Lebanon.

Despite past friction with presidents, Israel always managed to preserve its ability to maneuver independently on vital security interests. No more. Trump, as quite a few experts and commentators predicted, is simply throwing Netanyahu, and Israel along with him, under the bus.

On Wednesday of this week, he made the stunning statement that Tehran "must possess ballistic missiles because other countries have them." While he explicitly named Saudi Arabia, he may also have been referring to Israel, which likewise holds a large stockpile of ballistic missiles.

Given the dizzying pace at which Trump — a president with the stream-of-consciousness of an overgrown child — blurts out appalling statements, he might well go on to claim that Iran should possess nuclear weapons simply because another country in the region has them. Or perhaps even call for an end to military aid to Israel.

What perhaps pleases the Israeli Left and Center even more than Trump’s choice pronouncements and actions is the shock and trauma experienced by the Israeli Right. Until Trump’s about-face, he was seen by the Israeli Right, and specifically by its "base," including the settlers, not only as the "friendliest president" toward Israel, but was elevated to the exalted status of a "Messiah" and "Redeemer of Israel."

A striking illustration of the dire state of mind within the "Bibist" Right can be found in remarks made this week by Yinon Magal, a prominent mouthpiece for Channel 14. He called Trump a "loser" and referred to the president's advisors, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as "Jewboys" ("yehudonim"). He labeled Vice President Vance "scum." Magal’s comments were cited by major U.S. media outlets and even reached the White House.

Incidentally, the term "little Jew" ("yehudon") was used much earlier by the founding fathers of the settler movement, directed at Henry Kissinger while he was conducting his "shuttle diplomacy" to end the 1973–74 Yom Kippur War and secure the subsequent agreements.

But it’s important to remember that, in fact, with the exception of the Democratic party and a few small organizations, the Israeli Left is disappearing. The Israeli public leans right, more so since the shock of the October 7 massacre, and the odds of ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state, or even just advancing some form of political settlement with the Palestinians, are slim. That is, unless Trump directs his energy toward dealing with Jewish violence and terrorism in the West Bank as well.

Until then, all that remains is the sense of satisfaction of "we told you so" and schadenfreude. Especially when directed at right-wing Knesset members and Netanyahu’s mouthpieces, who did not hesitate to label figures from the Left and Center "traitors," "enemies of Israel," and a host of other vile epithets.

So it’s quite understandable that they are struggling to get over their hangover and psychological and cognitive distress. But it’s doubtful whether the Israeli Right’s sobering-up process will be directed at yet another "Messiah."

This article was published in Hebrew on June 18, 2026
Translation: Harriet Brown