The Trump-Bibi Dynamic Is Starting to Look Abusve

There is a dynamic playing out at the highest levels of global diplomacy that, if you strip away the suits and summits, looks uncomfortably familiar.

One party screams, humiliates, and betrays. The other apologizes, flatters, and comes back for more.

This week at the G7 summit in Évian, Donald Trump told reporters that without him, "there'd be no Israel." He said Israel "would have been blown off the face of the earth." He said every smart Israeli knows this. Then, in almost the same breath, he called his relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu "unbelievable."

Hours earlier, he had told Axios something rather different. "Why did Bibi have to do a f---ing attack? I was so p***ed off. I let him know. He has no f---ing judgment. I let him know that," Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

That is the American president. Speaking about the leader of America's closest ally in the Middle East. In those words.

And Netanyahu? He said the relationship was strong. He expressed gratitude. He praised Trump's contribution to Israel's security. He did not push back publicly. He never does.

This has been the pattern for years, and it is worth naming clearly.

Trump froze Netanyahu out entirely after Netanyahu congratulated Biden on winning the 2020 election, doing what any head of state would do in acknowledging the incoming president of the United States. Trump was furious. "Nobody did more for Bibi. And I liked Bibi," he said. "But I also like loyalty." He reportedly told an Israeli journalist: "F--- him," and said he hadn't spoken to Netanyahu since. Netanyahu, for his part, spent the next several years trying to win his way back into Trump's good graces.

He succeeded. And then this week happened.

Trump's phone call with Netanyahu over Lebanon became heated, with Trump using expletives to convey his disapproval of Israel's military plans, which threatened to derail negotiations with Iran. Publicly, Trump said Israel was "fighting Hezbollah for too long and too many people are being killed," and added, "I've had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to be more responsible."

Then came the line that should have landed harder than it did in Jerusalem's political circles: "Without me, there'd be no Israel," Trump said at the G7. "Because no other president was willing to do what I did."

This is not an expression of friendship. This is leverage. This is a reminder of who holds the power in this relationship, delivered publicly, at a summit of world leaders, while Israel is in the middle of a war.

And what is Netanyahu's response to being dressed down in expletives by the president of the United States and told his country owes its existence to one man's goodwill? Gratitude. Reaffirmation. More praise.

To be fair to Netanyahu, the constraints are real. Israel is fighting on multiple fronts, depends on American weapons and diplomatic cover, and cannot afford a rupture with Washington. There is a strategic logic to absorbing humiliation quietly when the alternative is worse. Netanyahu did not create this dependency; decades of Israeli policy did.

But there is a difference between strategic patience and what we are watching now. Netanyahu has built his entire second political comeback around his personal relationship with Trump, selling Israelis on the idea that his unique bond with the American president is itself a strategic asset. What this week has exposed is that the bond is entirely conditional, flows in one direction, and can be revoked or weaponized at any moment Trump finds it useful.

Netanyahu's tenure as prime minister spans four U.S. presidents, and he has frustrated all of them at one point or another. But none has voiced that as openly as Trump, who started this conflict in tandem with Netanyahu.

That is the part that gets lost. This was a war they launched together. The strikes on Iran in February, the regional escalation, the Strait of Hormuz crisis that shook the global economy — these were joint decisions. And now Trump is publicly telling the world that Netanyahu has no judgment and nearly blew up the deal, while taking all the credit for the outcome.

Netanyahu built his legacy on being the indispensable man, the one leader who could handle Washington, who understood American power, who could manage the relationship that matters most to Israel's survival. Right now, from Évian, that legacy looks a great deal more fragile than advertised.

Maybe it's Netanyahu's fault. He (as we all did) thought Trump could give him everything Israel needed.

But recently, Trump has done a 180 degree turn, with even Smotrich admitting that the US-Israel relationship is in real crisis now.

So now, Israel, which isn't even a party to the MOU, has to pull out of Lebanon and wait for Hezbollah to re-arm and strike again. Same with Gaza (pretty much). And Iran gets money, its missiles, its proxies and to keep enriching uranium.

And as all abused partners know, it's leaving that's the hardest thing of all. Many never do.

How long will Netanyahu allow himself to be abused? How great is too great a cost to pay for US aid?

The views expressed in this op-ed are those of the author.