President Trump said Tuesday he has a “great relationship” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but that last weekend’s strikes in Lebanon were “vicious” and “too much.”
Mr. Trump made the comments from Évian-les-Bains, France, where he is attending the G7 summit of leading industrialized nations. The summit is coming as Mr. Trump and Iran inked a truce to extend the ceasefire, which is expected to be formalized Friday in Switzerland.
The deal was almost held up when Israel launched strikes against a command center in Beirut for the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah. Iran said Sunday those strikes could complicate the deal, leading Mr. Trump to call on “all sides” to stand down.
Mr. Trump said Tuesday that Netanyahu “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.”
“[I] didn’t like where two hours before we’re signing the agreement that there was an attack in Lebanon, in Beirut,” Trump said Tuesday. He also described the attack as “vicious,” saying it was “too much.”
But the president added he and Netanyahu have a “great relationship,” and “we’re talking about some end details.”
“You know, you can do too much also, but we’ve had a very effective relationship,” Mr. Trump said. “Without us, without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did.”
Mr. Trump said Israel has been fighting Hezbollah “too long.”
“Too many people are being killed, and you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you, and I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah, because to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job of doing it,” Mr. Trump.
Tuesday’s comments are the latest example of Mr. Trump’s frustration with Netanyahu. Fox News reporter Trey Yingst said Sunday that Mr. Trump told him the president asked Netanyahu “what the f*** are you doing?” after this weekend’s strikes.
Troops are expected to stay in Lebanon, Israeli officials said Monday, because “Trump’s agreement does not bind us.” But Iran’s foreign minister said any Israeli forces remaining in the country would constitute a violation of the fledgling deal.
