Trump says he stopped Israeli raid on Hezbollah, Netanyahu faces backlash

Trump’s claim that he stopped an Israeli strike on Hezbollah has turned into a sharper question inside Israel: who is really setting wartime policy, Benjamin Netanyahu or Washington? After Trump said he had persuaded Netanyahu to call off a major raid in Beirut and that Israeli troops had been turned back, critics seized on what they saw as a public override of Israel’s military plans.

The dispute landed after Israel had already widened its campaign in Lebanon. The fighting, which began on March 2 when Hezbollah started firing rockets and drones into northern Israel in support of Iran, has displaced more than 1.2 million Lebanese. Israel says 26 soldiers and four civilians have been killed since then, while its forces have pushed deeper into southern Lebanon and seized the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and a strategic ridge.

Netanyahu’s political enemies moved fast to frame the episode as a sovereignty crisis. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett said Netanyahu’s government had “lost control of Israeli sovereignty.” Opposition leader Yair Lapid went further, calling Israel “a full protectorate.” Both men have pushed for stronger strikes against Hezbollah, but their criticism was less about tactics than about who gets the final say in a war that has already spilled across the border and into Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Netanyahu tried to push back, saying Israel’s position in the conflict “remains unchanged.” He also rejected the charge that his government had failed to damage Hezbollah through airstrikes. But the criticism cut through because it came as elections due by October approach and polling shows Netanyahu under pressure at home. Rivals accused him of acquiescing to Trump on national security, a charge that undercut the image of a prime minister still in control of a widening regional war.

The episode also intersected with the diplomatic track. After Israeli strikes on southern Beirut, Iran warned that Israel was jeopardizing Tehran’s talks with the U.S. Lebanon’s government later announced a new ceasefire under which Israel would stop strikes on southern Beirut and Hezbollah would halt attacks on Israel. Trump also said he had spoken with Hezbollah through intermediaries, an unusual move given that no U.S. president has ever spoken with the group, which Washington designates as a terrorist organization.

Pressure on Netanyahu was not limited to the opposition. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged even harsher action against Beirut’s southern suburbs, calling to “flatten” them. That left Netanyahu squeezed between hawks demanding escalation and critics arguing that Trump had exposed how much room he really had to maneuver.