JERUSALEM (JTA) – After former President Donald Trump used an expletive to denigrate Benjamin Netanyahu, formerly one of his closest allies, Netanyahu defended himself in response.
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“I highly appreciate President Trump’s big contribution to Israel and its security. I also appreciate the importance of the strong alliance between Israel and the U.S. and therefore it was important for me to congratulate the incoming President,” Netanyahu said, according to Barak Ravid, a reporter for Axios to whom Trump made his initial comments about the former Israeli prime minister.
According to the interview with Ravid, which will be published in full Monday in conjunction with the publication of his new book about the Abraham Accords, Trump was offended when Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden for winning the 2020 presidential election. Trump claimed that Netanyahu was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Biden on winning the presidency, though Netanyahu actually waited more than 12 hours after the election was called to congratulate Biden.
“I haven’t spoken to him since,” Trump said of Netanyahu in his interview with Ravid. “x— him.”
In another interview with Ravid in July, Trump suggested that Netanyahu’s congratulatory video call to Biden “hurt him badly with the people of Israel.” Netanyahu is currently the head of the opposition in the Israeli Knesset.
“As you know, I’m very popular in Israel. I think it hurt him very badly,” Trump said.
More excerpts from Ravid’s interviews with Trump were released Saturday by Israel’s Channel 12. In one comment, Trump suggested he would have preferred to work with Benny Gantz, who currently serves as Israel’s defense minister, on a peace deal with the Palestinians.
“I think [he] wanted to make a deal… if he won, I think it would be a lot easier,” Trump said, according to The Times of Israel.
Trump said he found Netanyahu to be less interested in making peace than he had originally hoped.
“Bibi did not want to make a deal,” Trump said of Netanyahu.
He also contrasted his impression of Netanyahu’s interest in making a deal with his impression of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “I thought the Palestinians were impossible, and the Israelis would do anything to make peace and a deal. I found that not to be true,” Trump said.
“I don’t think Bibi ever wanted to make peace,” Trump said in the interview. “I think he just tapped us along…‘No, no, we want to, we want to’…But I think Bibi did not want to make peace. Never did.”
The fact that one desires not to make peace with the Palestinians is a good thing because they are not ones that desire peace. Many proofs of this can be brought from their behavior in the past so bibi did good by just shlepping them along all this time.
Hey BiBi, why do you even bother to comment on Trumps words….
Leave Trump alone already. I think between Biden and Trump most people would take a senile president then a deranged president. Trump keeps up this narrative of stolen election ad nauseam. He will single handily give Stacy Abrams the governorship in Georgia because he’s angry at Gov Kemp for not finding the missing votes. He’s attacking Netanyahu for congratulating Biden. The records show that Netanyahu was from the last of world leaders to congratulate Biden. I supported Trump. I too suspect hanky panky, but nothing Trump says or does now will change anything. Trump is only helping the democrats and progressives with his immaturity.
Now Trump denies that crazed lawyer Sidney Powell was on his ‘legal’ team, but she was. She’s being investigated for a phony non-profit that took in $14 million for her. Oh well…
as if we didn’t know it, what a putz that trump is
Trump got suckered in by Abbas , the fraud and liar who finances families of terrorist murderers , who never offered to negotiate and repeatedly called into question Israel’s legitimacy.
At one point he even boycotted all talks. He’s angry at Bibi so he’s pounding away. He’s right though , Bibi should have waited a while longer but he caved.
Unfortunately the way of politics is that you have to congratulate the winner because you need to TL enough that you don’t lose out. The good thing was that nothing new who waited until after the heist was “official.”
Lol give it a few min and now all the supporters will start explaining why Bibi is correct and Trump is wrong…
Trump is manipulative and slightly crazy!
The aguda also ran to congratulate senile Beijing joe on his stolen election and yet %10 Joe didn’t allow frum after school to be included in his Brandon build back better bidinfation. Yet he’s giving illegal alien invaders $400,000 per kid
So when exactly will Trump finally turn 5?
This is trump in all his vile glory. Cursing out his pal Bibi, who he played like a fiddle for the ‘frum’ vote in USA. This is what you get from trump. Wait till his comments about Jews become public!