Everyone Hates Netanyahu, Everyone Hates Israel

“The early fear of a scenario in which the American president would turn against Israel became a resounding strategic blow with the leak of the harsh telephone call” between Trump and Netanyahu on June 1. That is how journalist Danny Zaken described the episode in Israel Hayom on June 2. The call was preceded by Netanyahu’s announcement that Israel would strike Hezbollah’s stronghold in the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Beirut. Netanyahu’s declaration followed a broad public demand in Israel to bomb Beirut, prompted by the army’s inability to confront Hezbollah and its fiber-optic-guided drones, which had killed soldiers and wounded many others. That demand came from the heads of communities along the northern border, from Kiryat Shmona to Rosh Hanikra, as well as from senior figures in the defense establishment and the media.

The names of the fallen soldiers shook Israeli society. The cry of northern residents, forced to run to shelters without respite, was directed squarely at Netanyahu and his government, which were accused of indifference, helplessness, and acceptance of the American diktat for a sham cease-fire. The exchange of blows in southern Lebanon was mockingly dubbed “the cease-fire war.” Thus, Netanyahu found himself with his back to the wall after the Knesset voted to dissolve itself, with elections already looming.

It turned out that Trump’s clock was running in the opposite direction from Netanyahu’s: Trump faces political and public pressure to end the war immediately, while Netanyahu faces the opposite pressure — to enter Lebanon with full force, bomb Beirut, and bring about a decisive military outcome that would put an end to the suffering of northern residents. Among the many abusive remarks Trump hurled at Netanyahu, one sentence seems to describe the disagreement between the two leaders better than any other, and to reveal something of the strategic dispute between Israel and the American administration: “Everyone hates you now… everyone hates Israel because of this.” Although Israelis hated Biden and accused him of constraining Israel’s freedom of action in its war against Hamas in Gaza, Trump’s position today does not appear far removed from that of the Biden administration.

It turned out that Trump’s clock was running in the opposite direction from Netanyahu’s: Trump faces political and public pressure to end the war immediately, while Netanyahu faces the opposite pressure — to enter Lebanon with full force, bomb Beirut, and bring about a decisive military outcome that would put an end to the suffering of northern residents. Among the many abusive remarks Trump hurled at Netanyahu, one sentence seems to describe the disagreement between the two leaders better than any other, and to reveal something of the strategic dispute between Israel and the American administration: “Everyone hates you now… everyone hates Israel because of this.” Although Israelis hated Biden and accused him of constraining Israel’s freedom of action in its war against Hamas in Gaza, Trump’s position today does not appear far removed from that of the Biden administration.

It is worth dwelling precisely on the word “everyone.” Who are all those people who hate Netanyahu? It does not seem to refer to European countries, which hate Trump no less than they hate Netanyahu. Nor does it refer to the Democratic Party or the American hard right, both of which detest Netanyahu, since he is so completely identified with Trump. Rather, it appears to refer to the United States’ allies in the Middle East, first and foremost Saudi Arabia. Alongside it stand Turkey, Pakistan and Qatar, which together with Egypt have formed an axis parallel to the alliance between the United States and Israel. The interest of the Saudi axis is to end the war and reach an agreement with Iran as soon as possible. This interest aligns with the mood of American public opinion and stands in complete contradiction to the mood of Israeli public opinion and to Israeli policy.

Immediately after being sworn in for a second term, Trump made his first visit to the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, while Israel was not included on the agenda of that visit at all. Back in April 2025, in a revealing interview on Tucker Carlson’s program, Steve Witkoff explained American policy in the region. In an article I wrote in March 2025 under the title “The Gospel According to Witkoff,” based on that interview, I assessed that American policy did not align with Netanyahu’s pursuit of “total victory.” Today, as then, the Gulf states see Israel as endangering regional stability. In that article I wrote: “Netanyahu’s policy stands in opposition to the American interest as reflected in Witkoff’s public statements. And what is the American interest? The pursuit of regional stability that will serve the interests of the Trump administration’s two most important Arab allies — Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

But in June of that same year, the tables turned. Israel attacked Iran, eliminated senior figures at the top of the military and the Revolutionary Guards in the opening strike, bombed nuclear facilities, destroyed air-defense systems, and demonstrated both the helplessness of the Iranian leadership and Israel’s military and technological superiority. Trump could not resist the temptation, and on the final day of the war sent B-2 bombers carrying bunker-buster bombs to strike the nuclear facility at Fordow. He called the operation “Midnight Hammer” and claimed the success as his own. The balance tipped clearly in Israel’s favor. For the first time in history, the United States joined a campaign against Iran alongside Israel. Without a doubt, this was the Iranian regime’s great strategic failure: It had failed to correctly assess what the American response would be to its refusal to reach an agreement.

But appetite grows with eating. The demonstrations of the Iranian people, who took to the streets en masse to protest the economic situation, convinced Israel and the American administration that the regime was at a historic low and that this was the opportunity to bring it down. We all remember the “help is on the way” promised by Trump, and from there the rest is history. The Iranian regime survived not because of domestic public support and not because of its military or economic strength, but because of the weakness of its adversary. From the very first moment, the Iranians identified the American vulnerabilities.

The first was broad domestic opposition to the war, which included not only the Democratic Party but also large parts of the MAGA movement. Trump failed to mobilize public opinion in favor of the war in the face of his opponents’ claim that Iran did not constitute a direct threat to the United States. Perhaps Trump thought Iran was like Venezuela, and that the Iranian Delcy Rodríguez was merely waiting for his courtship. Yet the main American weak point was the Gulf states. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the attacks on oil facilities in the Gulf caused oil prices to soar, weighing heavily on the pockets of American consumers.

Hatred of Israel in the United States stems from the American recognition that the alliance with Israel is a burden rather than an asset, and Netanyahu is the target of the growing frustration that Americans have been dragged into a war that is not theirs. Therefore, Trump’s interests and Israel’s interests are not identical. Trump saw the war against Iran as a geopolitical opportunity. It would enable him to benefit his allies in the Gulf, control Iran’s oil reserves, and thereby create economic leverage vis-à-vis China. By contrast, Israel’s interest is first and foremost existential. The October 7 attack, followed by the Iranian missile attacks on Israel in April and October 2024, generated a sense of real existential danger. That feeling penetrated deep into the hearts of Israeli citizens, who saw the destruction and terror caused by Iranian ballistic missiles falling indiscriminately over their heads.

We must not forget that October 7 was a strategic failure that Israel created with its own hands. The conception that the conflict could be managed; that the occupation could be maintained by separating the Palestinian Authority from Hamas; that quiet could be purchased by channeling Qatari dollars into Gaza; the feeling that one could thumb one’s nose at the world, that public opinion in the United States and Europe did not matter; and the hostile attitude toward the Biden administration — all these created the conditions for the outbreak of “the perfect storm.”

Netanyahu is the father of the great disaster of October 7. He flees reality, but reality slaps him in the face. “You are crazy,” Trump screams. “Everyone hates you,” he says, tying Netanyahu’s hands and preventing him from finishing the job. For Trump, Hamas and Hezbollah, Lebanon and Gaza are of no value whatsoever and are no more than obstacles on the road to realizing his ambition to become the world’s oil king. The weight of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is heavier than that of Israel. Trump is racing toward an agreement with Iran. For him, the war is over; he is acting to minimize the damage and will not allow Netanyahu to stand in his way. Danny Zaken called it a “strategic blow,” but it would be more accurate to say that Trump threw Bibi under the bus.

To be sure, Netanyahu continues his path, in the desperate hope that things will somehow work out. With the last fumes of fuel, he is rushing to snatch whatever he can to advance the regime overhaul in Israel and appoint his cronies to sensitive posts — the positions of “gatekeepers,” most of them hardline national religious fundamentalists — while trampling Israel’s democratic regime. Therefore, when Trump says, “everyone hates you,” he also means the overwhelming majority of the Israeli public, which is fed up with him and unwilling to continue living under his corrupt rule. Judgment Day is approaching, in both senses of the term: The court will determine his fate, and the public will have its say in the coming elections. He has brought hell upon us, and he must go.