Trump: ‘We have to keep Netanyahu sane; Israel will obey me’

President Donald Trump argued that without his backing, Israel would have been “eviscerated” during the regional conflict.

By World Israel News Staff

President Donald Trump said he was keeping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in check and suggested that Jerusalem would ultimately follow his directives, even when Israeli leaders oppose U.S. policy, according to an interview published by Axios on Friday.

Speaking about rumored rifts with Netanyahu, Trump said their relationship is “good, but we have to keep him a little bit sane.”

Trump went further in describing the power dynamic between Washington and Jerusalem, arguing that the United States has the final say over Israeli military operations because of the scale of American support. He said Israeli officials “do as I say” because “they have a lot of respect for me.”

The president also emphasized the extent of U.S. military backing for Israel, saying Washington controls “the guns” and “B-2 bombers,” and asserting that without American support, the Jewish state would not have survived its current regional challenges.

“If it weren’t for Donald Trump, Israel would have been eviscerated,” the president said, referring to himself in the third person.

Trump also pointed to his role in the June 2025 war between Israel and Iran, highlighting his decision to authorize extensive strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites. He paired that with a reminder that he withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama — an agreement that Israel strongly opposed at the time.

The comments also followed sharp criticism from Vice President JD Vance, who rebuked Israeli opposition to the agreement and suggested that Israeli leaders should be more cautious in publicly challenging the White House.

“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,” Vance said in an interview last week.

“Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time, and he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower,” he added.