President Donald Trump had an awkward encounter in the Oval Office when he asked the one question his ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not want to hear.
According to an official who spoke with Axios, the 80-year-old president asked Netanyahu, 76, how he was doing in the polls ahead of Israel’s Oct. 27 election—a sensitive topic for the prime minister, whose coalition is currently projected to lose seats.
Netanyahu reportedly paused at the question, prompting one of his aides to step in and tell Trump, “Mr. President, he is winning.”
The meeting, held at the end of July, was later described by Trump as “very good” and by Netanyahu as “one of the best conversations I have had with the president of the United States.” But it came at a tense time for the two leaders, whose relationship has grown increasingly complex.
Relations between the Israeli prime minister and the U.S. president had already grown strained over the war in Iran. In June, Trump told Axios that he was “p---ed off” after his advisers informed him that Israel had struck Lebanon, as the Trump administration was attempting to negotiate an end to the conflict—one that Trump ultimately joined after allegedly being pushed to do so by Netanyahu.
“Why did Bibi have to do a f---ing attack? I was so p---ed off. I let him know. He has no f---ing judgment. I let him know that,” Trump said at the time.
Trump had proclaimed to the Financial Times that he “calls all the shots” when it comes to negotiating a deal with Iran. But after the initial signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in June, the agreement was soon declared “over.”
When confronted in July about his relationship with Trump being “under strain,” Netanyahu told Fox & Friends that the two leaders “see eye to eye on just about everything,” while acknowledging that, like all allies, they have “differences of opinion.”
Those differences were put on full display last week, when the Israeli prime minister rejected a 15-point peace plan put forward by the Trump administration aimed at securing a lasting peace in Gaza.
“We are now discussing this with the Americans,” Netanyahu said after making what he called a “precise” statement that his country was rejecting Trump’s plan. “They have ideas, some of which are acceptable to us and some are not, and we know how to stand up to those things,” he added.
The decision to reject the peace plan comes as Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition faces a tough election at the end of October. Polling suggests his coalition could fall short of the 61 seats needed to form a government, while Trump has yet to endorse his ally and has repeatedly avoided questions about whether he will back Netanyahu.
“Bibi is his own worst enemy,” the president told two people who spoke with him about Netanyahu, according to Axios.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and Netanyahu’s office for comment.
