Trump cuts ties with Netanyahu over manipulation concerns: Report

JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump has decided to cut off direct contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a report said Thursday.

Yanir Cozin, a correspondent for Israeli Army Radio, said in a post on his X account that Trump made the decision after close associates told Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer that the president believes that Netanyahu is manipulating him.

An Israeli official added that Dermer’s tone during recent discussions with senior Republican figures about what Trump should do was seen as arrogant and unhelpful.

The official said that people around Trump told him that "Netanyahu was manipulating him."

"There is nothing Trump hates more than being portrayed as a fool or someone being played. That’s why he decided to cut contact with Netanyahu," the official added.

Cozin pointed to the Israeli government’s failure to present a concrete plan and timeline regarding Iran and Yemen’s Houthis as a source of the worsening US-Israel relationship.

The Army Radio correspondent also highlighted that the Netanyahu government has failed to offer a concrete proposal on Gaza.