A book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, discloses that President Donald Trump subjected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a profane dressing-down during a September 2025 telephone call, telling him “everyone is sick of you, Bibi. All the Jews are sick of you. Even the two Jews on this call are sick of you.” The exchange, confirmed by multiple media outlets that obtained excerpts, took place as Trump pressed Netanyahu to accept a 20-point US plan to end the war in Gaza. According to the book, Trump warned that continued Israeli rejection could lead to a “divorce” between the two allies.

Viewed from Washington, the account paints a picture of a president simultaneously fascinated and repelled by Israeli military tactics. The book describes an Oval Office meeting earlier that year in which Trump, joined by Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson, fixated on the September 2024 pager attacks against Hezbollah, recounting graphic injuries with a mixture of horror and captivation. The authors report that Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were present on the call with Netanyahu and had themselves been angered by an Israeli airstrike on Hamas leaders in Doha, which they saw as undermining the peace effort.

The revelation lands amid a period of documented strain in US-Israeli relations. After initial cooperation in the joint military campaign against Iran that began in February 2025, Trump has increasingly criticised Israeli operations in Lebanon and questioned Netanyahu’s judgement. In recent weeks, according to regional analysts, Trump has publicly labelled Netanyahu a “madman” and argued that Israel need not destroy entire apartment buildings to hit single targets. The Washington Post, cited in the book’s surrounding coverage, reports that US intelligence agencies have warned the White House that Netanyahu may attempt to obstruct a lasting peace agreement with Iran.

The Gaza ceasefire plan was ultimately announced at a joint White House press conference on 29 September 2025, two days after the contentious call, and was endorsed by the UN Security Council in November. Neither the White House nor the Israeli prime minister’s office has issued an official response to the book’s claims. The volume, which also details internal administration debates over the Epstein files scandal and Iran war management, has stirred concern among White House staff that recordings from the secure Situation Room may have been leaked. The book’s publication is expected to intensify scrutiny of the personal dynamic between the two leaders as negotiations over Iran and Lebanon continue.