By Ynet

Copyright ynetnews

President Donald Trump is frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday morning. But the U.S. paper said it was unclear whether Trump is angry enough to do anything about it. According to the report, Trump has told several aides in recent weeks that Netanyahu prefers to use military force to complete the defeat of Hamas rather than the approach the president favors: negotiations. The paper said Trump’s peak of frustration came after the Israeli strike in Qatar. “He’s f**king me!” Trump said of Netanyahu, according to people who heard the president in a conversation with senior advisers that included U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The discussion was about how to respond to the unusual strike in Qatar, and the report said the president used the expletive. Trump spoke with Netanyahu twice after the strike in Qatar. The Journal reported that in the first call Trump expressed displeasure the second was friendlier and was meant to determine whether the Israeli strike had been successful. Trump later spoke with the emir of Qatar, praising the mediation and calling Qatar a U.S. ally. A senior Israeli official quoted by the Wall Street Journal told the paper that the relationship between the president and the prime minister is excellent and that reports to the contrary are “fake news.” The official said U.S. and Israeli interests and values are aligned. The paper asked why a president who prefers to have the upper hand allows Netanyahu to act clearly against his wishes. One reason, according to people who know both men quoted in the story, is that they are “kindred spirits.” Both, the sources said, believe they face “persecution from their countries’ elites” — including in the courts — and see themselves as outsiders coming to fix a corrupt system. Another reason the rapport endures, the report said, is Netanyahu’s influence on Congress and on conservative U.S. media. People familiar with Netanyahu’s thinking told the paper he frequently meets U.S. lawmakers in Israel, and his interviews in the U.S. get heavy viewership among Trump supporters. According to U.S. sources cited by the paper, Trump does not want a public rift with Netanyahu. He takes pride in his close ties with the prime minister and in his support for Israel, and he often boasts about the Abraham Accords, which he hopes to expand to Saudi Arabia. The paper noted that Netanyahu has ingratiated himself with Trump’s inner circle and “flattered” him. It recalled that Netanyahu opened a promenade in Bat Yam named for Trump with Ambassador Mike Huckabee. Still, Trump fears the Israeli strike in Doha may have derailed hostage negotiations — perhaps permanently. Politico published a detailed report over the weekend about the president’s and his aides’ concerns. A person close to Trump’s national security team and another U.S. official familiar with the matter told the Journal that White House frustration with Netanyahu deepened after the strike, and that Trump and his aides began to wonder whether Netanyahu had tried to sabotage the talks. “It seems that every time there is progress Netanyahu bombs someone,” the source close to Trump’s team said. “That’s why the president and his aides are so frustrated with him,” the person added. At the same time, the two sources said the White House has worked to calm the Qataris, who called the Israeli strike “barbaric.” Israeli officials responded to sharp criticism from the U.S. administration by saying it had assessed that Hamas would reject Trump’s proposal regardless of an Israeli strike there. Conversely, a U.S. official said Trump is “increasingly frustrated” with the prime minister, who is taking “too many aggressive steps without U.S. involvement.” Other sources told the Wall Street Journal that Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff have in recent months complained about Netanyahu, saying he “pulls” U.S. allies into fraught situations without warning.