The planned visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington was cancelled this week, with his office citing the postponement of memorial services for the late senator Lindsey Graham. White House officials, however, indicated that no meeting with President Donald Trump had ever been confirmed, and that the Israeli leader had been attempting for more than two weeks to secure a slot in the president’s schedule. The episode has brought into the open a series of frictions that, according to officials in both capitals, have eroded the unusually close coordination that characterised the early phase of the joint military campaign against Iran.

Central to the immediate rupture was an interview Netanyahu gave to Fox News in early July, on the eve of Trump’s departure for a NATO summit in Ankara. In it, the prime minister publicly criticised the administration’s consideration of selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, arguing that such a move would upset the military balance in the Middle East and that Ankara harboured “aggressive intentions.” Two White House officials told the Axios news site that Trump was “furious” about the interview and believed Netanyahu “had no right” to intervene in the matter. The Turkish government has long sought readmission to the F-35 programme, from which it was expelled in 2019 over its purchase of Russian S-400 air-defence systems; Washington has signalled a willingness to lift the ban, though congressional opposition remains.

A separate intelligence episode further complicated the atmosphere. During Trump’s stay in Ankara, Israeli agencies passed information to their US counterparts suggesting that an Iranian official had spoken of attempting to kill the president while he was in Turkey. The US Secret Service took additional precautions, including switching Trump to an older presidential aircraft. American and Turkish security officials later assessed the intelligence as unsubstantiated, describing it as aspirational rather than an operational plot, and Turkish services found no evidence of a concrete plan. Viewed from Washington, the incident reinforced a perception among some officials that Israel was seeking to shape the president’s threat environment in ways that served its own strategic messaging.

Beyond the immediate disputes, the cancelled trip reflects deeper divergences over Iran and the regional endgame. Since the military campaign against Tehran reached a stalemate, the Trump administration has pursued a fragile diplomatic understanding with Iran, a course that Israeli leaders have privately and publicly likened to a capitulation to the ayatollahs. US officials have also pressed for the start of an Israeli withdrawal from security zones in southern Syria and Lebanon, a demand Netanyahu has resisted, citing electoral constraints and the need to maintain a tough posture for his domestic audience. Vice President J.D. Vance recently accused members of the Israeli government of attempting to prolong the war and undermine US policy, a signal, according to analysts in European capitals, that Netanyahu’s standing has weakened even within the Republican coalition that once embraced him.

Netanyahu’s office has said he will travel to Washington later this month for the rescheduled Graham memorial. Whether a bilateral meeting with Trump will take place on the margins remains unconfirmed. Israeli officials acknowledge that the two sides have yet to agree on an agenda or expected outcomes, particularly on Iran and the terms of a US-mediated arrangement with Lebanon. The dossier is now in a holding pattern, with both governments publicly downplaying the rift while privately recalibrating a relationship that, according to diplomats in the region, has entered a phase of transactional caution rather than strategic alignment.