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A new book by two New York Times journalists reveals that U.S. President Donald Trump berated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call last year, telling him that "everybody's sick of you, Bibi" and that even Jewish members of his own inner circle had grown tired of the Israeli leader.
The account appears in "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump," written by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan and published Tuesday.
The book examines the first year of Trump's second term, during which the United States brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that ended the two-year war in Gaza.
According to excerpts from the book, Trump made the remarks during a phone call that also included senior White House advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, both of whom are Jewish.
"All the Jews are sick of you," Trump reportedly told Netanyahu. "Even the two Jews on this call are sick of you." Trump also warned the Israeli leader that he was not permitted to "back out of" Washington's proposed ceasefire agreement for Gaza.
The conversation reportedly took place during the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025, as Trump was pushing a 20-point plan to end the conflict in Gaza and rebuild the war-torn enclave. The timing placed the call at a particularly volatile moment in negotiations.
Earlier that month, Israel had launched an airstrike targeting Hamas's leadership in Qatar, where senior figures in the militant group had gathered to discuss a potential ceasefire deal.
The strike failed to kill its primary targets but did kill several lower-ranking Hamas members and one Qatari guard. Qatar, which had served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, subsequently withdrew from its intermediary role.
It was not clear from the available excerpts whether the Qatar strike was connected to Trump's outburst at Netanyahu.
Despite the confrontation, Trump also defended his support for Israel during the call. "I'm the best friend Israel ever had," he reportedly told Netanyahu. "Everybody hates you, and I've stood by you."
The Gaza ceasefire call was not the only instance of sharp language toward the Israeli leader cited in the book. A separate excerpt released last week alleged that Trump referred to Netanyahu as a "con man" in the early months of his second administration.
The disclosures arrive as the two leaders' relationship shows signs of deepening strain. In recent weeks, Trump has publicly called Netanyahu "f.. crazy" and accused him of having "no f... judgment," and told Axios that while the relationship is "good," the U.S. has to "keep him a little bit sane."
Trump has also revived a long-standing grievance over the 2020 killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, alleging at a press conference during the G7 summit that Israel had pulled out of a planned joint operation, leaving the U.S. to act alone.
Trump had raised the episode repeatedly in the past but had stopped doing so after becoming the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nominee, when he reconciled with Netanyahu following a public falling-out over the Israeli leader's congratulations to Joe Biden on his 2020 election victory.
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