"He's a madman": Trump's team frets about Netanyahu after Syria strikes

Axios

20-07-2025

As smoke and debris swirled over the Syrian presidential palace, the chatter in the West Wing grew louder: Benjamin Netanyahu is out of control.
What they're saying:"Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time," one White House official told Axios, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. "This could undermine what Trump is trying to do."
A second senior U.S. official also pointed to the shelling of a church in Gaza this week, which led President Trump to call Netanyahu and demand an explanation. "The feeling is that every day there is something new. What the f***?"
A third U.S. official said there's growing skepticism inside the Trump administration about Netanyahu — a sense that his trigger finger is too itchy and he's too disruptive. "Netanyahu is sometimes like a child who just won't behave."
Netanyahu's spokesperson Ziv Agmon did not respond to a request for comment.
Why it matters: Six U.S. officials tell Axios that despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted this week's escalation in Syria on Friday, this week ended with the White House significantly more alarmed about Netanyahu and his regional policies.
However, Trump has so far refrained from public criticism and it's unclear if he shares his advisers' frustrations. It is not totally clear whether he shares his advisers' recent concerns about Israel's actions in Syria.
Driving the news: On Tuesday, Israel bombed a convoy of Syrian army tanks en route to the city of Suwayda to respond to violent clashes between a Druze militia and armed Bedouin tribesmen, which had killed over 700 people as of Saturday according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Israel claimed the convoy crossed into a zone of southern Syria it demands be demilitarized, and that the Syrian military was participating in attacks on the Druze minority, which Syria denies.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack asked his Israeli counterparts on Tuesday to stand down to allow for a diplomatic resolution, and the Israelis committed to do so, according to a U.S. official.
Instead, after a pause, Israel escalated the strikes. On Wednesday, Israel dropped bombs on Syria's military headquarters and near the presidential palace.
Friction point:"The bombing in Syria caught the president and the White House by surprise. The president doesn't like turning on the television and seeing bombs dropped in a country he is seeking peace in and made a monumental announcement to help rebuild," a U.S. official said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Netanyahu and his team to stop on Wednesday.
Netanyahu agreed to do so in return for the Syrian military withdrawing from Suwayda.
But by then countries including Turkey and Saudi Arabia had conveyed angry messages to the Trump administration about Israel's actions, and several senior U.S. officials had complained directly to Trump about Netanyahu.
Behind the scenes: Among those officials were Barrack and White House envoy Steve Witkoff — both close friends Trump's, according to a U.S. official.
The general belief in the White House was that Netanyahu bombed Syria because of domestic pressure from Israel's Druze minority and other political considerations.
"Bibi's political agenda is driving his senses. It will turn out to be a big mistake for him long-term," a U.S. official said.
Another U.S. official said the damage the Israelis had done to their standing at the White House over the past week didn't seem to be breaking through to them. "The Israelis need to get their head out of their asses," the official quipped.
Between the lines: The tensions over Syria came just days after Netanyahu's visit to D.C., in which he met Trump twice and the two leaders seemed closer than ever in the afterglow of the war with Iran.
In addition to Syria and the attack on the church in Gaza, the murder of Palestinian American Saif Mussallet by a mob of Israeli settlers last weekend also sparked pushback from the Trump administration toward Netanyahu's stridently pro-settler government.
Amb. Mike Huckabee, who days earlier had visited Netanyahu's corruption trial in a show of support, released a series of statements calling the attack "terrorism" and demanding answers. On Saturday, he also visited a Christian community in the West Bank that had been targeted by settler attacks.
Huckabee, long an effusive supporter of Israel, also criticized the Israeli government this week for making it harder for American evangelicals to obtain travel visas.
The other side: The Israelis were surprised by the U.S. pushback over the Syria strikes.
A senior Israeli official said Trump had encouraged Netanyahu to hold parts of Syria during his first weeks in office and hadn't previously expressed concerns about Israel's interventions in the country.
The official stressed that Israel only intervened after its intelligence indicated the Syrian government was involved in attacks against the Druze. The official denied any domestic political considerations.
"The U.S. wants to keep the new Syrian government stable and doesn't understand why we attack in Syria, because of attacks on the Druze community there. We tried to explain to them that this is our commitment to the Druze community in Israel," the senior Israeli official said.
State of play: The instability in Syria is a major concern to the administration. On Saturday, Rubio posted on X that the regime in Damascus needs to help bring peace and stop the killings.
But a senior U.S. official said Israel shouldn't be able to decide whether the Syrian government can exert its sovereignty over its own citizens and territory.
"The current Israeli policy would lead to an unstable Syria. Both the Druze community and Israel will lose in such a scenario," the official said.
The big picture: This was hardly the first time Netanyahu tested Trump's patience.
His gamble that Trump would ultimately back his strikes on Iran paid off in dramatic fashion.
He's pressed on in Gaza for months despite Trump's desire for an end to the war.
In Syria, he bet once again that he could escalate dramatically without destabilizing the region or his relationship with Trump.
And Trump aides have become more and more aware in recent months of the influence far-right Jewish supremacist elements in Netanyahu's coalition have on policy. This dynamic has also become more evident to the broader MAGA movement.
The bottom line: U.S. officials who spoke to Axios cautioned that Netanyahu's luck, and Trump's goodwill, could run out.