Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics U.S.-Israel relations are on the rocks ahead of elections Relations between the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have turned rocky since Trump called a truce with Iran. Trump seeks progress in Gaza, but Netanyahu is taking a defiant stance ahead of an election. World U.S.-Israel relations are on the rocks ahead of elections September 3, 20264:06 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition Daniel Estrin U.S.-Israel relations are on the rocks ahead of elections Listen · 3:56 3:56 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5950045/nx-s1-9912425" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Relations between the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have turned rocky since Trump called a truce with Iran. Trump seeks progress in Gaza, but Netanyahu is taking a defiant stance ahead of an election. Sponsor Message Transcript
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The U.S. is not the only country headed towards elections in a few months. Israelis vote at the end of October. Relations between the two countries are on the rocks. The Trump administration has been showing signs of frustration with Israel, and as NPR's Daniel Estrin reports from Tel Aviv, the feeling is mutual.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Israelis tend to love President Trump for his pro-Israel stance, but many are not happy he called a truce this summer with Iran.
YOSSI RADINSKY: (Speaking Hebrew).
ESTRIN: "I like Trump," says meat seller Yossi Radinsky, "but his judgment wasn't right." He says Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a plan to defeat Iran and they didn't finish the job.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOFAR BLOWING)
ESTRIN: In an outdoor market, an Israeli man blows the shofar - the ram's horn - a call for introspection ahead of the Jewish New Year beginning next week. Israeli shopper Noy Mor, a mother of four, reflects on Trump.
NOY MOR: (Speaking Hebrew).
ESTRIN: "Every morning he wakes up with a new crazy idea," she says. "Suddenly, he'll say, Iran, I'll bomb you, and the next day he'll say, let's make a deal. He's not stable. Can you rely on him? No."
When Trump announced the truce agreement with Iran this summer, Netanyahu's coalition partners said they wouldn't be bound by it. Israel was sidelined during the negotiations. Netanyahu told reporters he wasn't aware of the details of the deal when it was reached. And here's what he said about his relationship with Trump.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: (Speaking Hebrew).
ESTRIN: "We often see things eye to eye, and there are times we see less eye to eye," Netanyahu said.
Another disagreement has been on Gaza. Trump wants to advance a plan for Hamas disarmament. Netanyahu said he rejects the plan. Netanyahu has also rejected U.S. calls to limit Israeli attacks in Gaza. Israeli strikes have increased, including bombing Hamas munitions depots. That drew a rebuke at the United Nations Security Council from Nikolai Miladinov from Trump's Board of Peace.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NIKOLAI MILADINOV: Will another strike on a munitions depot stop Hamas from rearming or tightening its grip on Gaza? It will not. It only delays the demilitarization.
ESTRIN: Netanyahu wants to appear defiant to hard-right Israeli voters ahead of October elections, but that's complicating Trump's efforts to rein in Israeli strikes throughout the Middle East, says former Israeli diplomat in the U.S. Alon Pinkas.
ALON PINKAS: I think it's a major shift.
ESTRIN: Netanyahu used to campaign for reelection by touting his close ties with Trump, but Trump hasn't endorsed Netanyahu for the October elections. Netanyahu is trailing in the polls behind his centrist challenger. Former diplomat Pinkas speculates Trump is hearing this message from his advisers.
PINKAS: You thought you have a partner in Netanyahu. Apparently, you don't. There are things that Israel could have done to make you look better and Netanyahu refused to do that because of his own political calculations. And so why should you bend backwards and help him? Screw him. Let's work with the next prime minister.
ESTRIN: On the backdrop of these rocky relations is escalating Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank that's affecting U.S. citizens. A Palestinian American family's home has been besieged and an American news crew from NBC was attacked. Israel still hasn't made any arrests in those two incidents, but Israel has made it's very first arrest in connection with another recent attack on Palestinians. A 19-year-old Israeli settler is now in Israeli police custody.
Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
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