{"id":560656,"date":"2026-07-26T17:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T17:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/560656\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T17:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T17:49:11","slug":"netanyahu-talked-graham-out-of-lobbying-trump-to-join-war-on-hezbollah-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/560656\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu talked Graham out of lobbying Trump to join war on Hezbollah – report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked the late Republican senator Lindsey Graham out of convincing US President Donald Trump to join Israel\u2019s fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to unaired footage seen by The Wall Street Journal.<\/a><\/p>\n

Graham, a staunchly pro-Israel senator from South Carolina and longtime friend of both Netanyahu and Trump, was followed by a documentary film crew during the first days of this year\u2019s US-Israeli war with Iran. Footage of the film was obtained by the Journal, which published a short clip its their site.<\/p>\n

In the clip, Graham boasts to his staff that Trump was thrilled after launching major strikes with Israel against Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to Trump this morning. He\u2019s jacked, he said, \u2018Best thing I have ever done.\u2019 He loves blowing stuff up,\u201d Graham says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long have we been pushing this?\u201d he asks his staff, rhetorically, alluding to his many years of lobbying for the US to go to war with Iran.<\/p>\n

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Graham says he was fighting with \u201ca lot of people inside\u201d the Trump administration who were against the Iran war, and that Republicans were not backing the war firmly enough.<\/p>\n

pic.twitter.com\/0aEK22B30L<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ertoi (@ertoiaccount) July 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cVery few people are out selling this war from the administration. I\u2019m shocked,\u201d he says.\n<\/p>\n

Graham also seemed to suggest that top White House aides Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff could not be trusted in diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t do it with Jared, and I can\u2019t do it with Witkoff. They\u2019re just too conflicted. It\u2019s gotta be [US Secretary of State Marco] Rubio,\u201d he told Joe Biden\u2019s national security adviser Jake Sullivan, according to the report.<\/p>\n

It was unclear whether Graham was referring to conflicts of interest the two had, or merely saying they were internally conflicted in some manner.<\/p>\n

At one point in March, Graham planned to fly to Florida in order to convince Trump to join Israel\u2019s campaign against Hezbollah, but Netanyahu talked him out of it in a March 4 call, the Journal said, detailing other portions of the film not aired by the outlet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re concentrating right now on Iran,\u201d Netanyahu says in the footage.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosts visiting US Senator Lindsey Graham in Jerusalem, February 16, 2026. (Maayan Toaf\/GPO)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we tell Hezbollah that we\u2019re going all the way, we threaten them, but if we actually do it, then they have no reason not to go all the way against us. And right now that\u2019s not our interest,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Graham also told Netanyahu that it would be time to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia once the Iranian regime falls, but the prime minister said to focus on Iran first, the report said.<\/p>\n

The late senator also flew to Saudi Arabia to try to get Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman\u2019s support for the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Only weeks before he died earlier in July, Graham worried that Trump was flubbing the war effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s letting this thing slip away,\u201d the senator said. \u201cI got to go talk to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham, who spent decades advocating for Israel in the US halls of power, died unexpectedly of heart failure at age 71.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu is set to fly to Washington to attend his memorial service and meet with Trump this week.<\/p>\n


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