Netanyahu reacts to Donald Trump's dissent on former Israeli PM congratulating Joe Biden

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday responded to the ex-US President Donald Trump’s angst after the latter burst out in an interview with an Israeli journalist Barak Ravid saying that he felt ‘betrayed’ by Netanyahu. As the former American leader recounted his administration’s pro-Israel stance, upending decades of US Mideast policies and international consensus, and recognising Israel's sovereignty on the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during the 1967 war, the historic Abraham Accords, and recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, embattled Trump attacked his one-time close ex-ally for being first in the line to congratulate Joe Biden’s election. 

"It was early. OK? Let's put it this way -- he greeted him very early. Earlier than most world leaders,” Trump told Ravid during an April interview, published by Axios Friday. The former American leader then continued, “I’ve not spoken to him [Netanyahu] since. F**k him.” 

Speaking about his role in the interview for the book that outlines his administration’s contribution in the Middle East peace processes, increasingly upset Trump, who was very close to former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu throughout his presidency, said, ”There was no one who did more for Netanyahu than me. There was no one who did for Israel more than I did. And the first person to run to greet Joe Biden was Netanyahu.”

Further during his 90-minute interview in April at Mar-a-Lago, the ex Republic president said, “Not only did he [Netanyahu] congratulate him -- he did it in a video. If you look at the leaders of other countries -- like Brazil -- he waited months. Putin. Many other leaders. Mexico. All of them also felt that the election was over. But they, too, were waiting. No one did more than me for Bibi. Money too. We gave them a lot of money and gave them soldiers. We did everything.”

'We've been personal friends for almost three decades..'

On the eve of November 8, 2020, exactly when the US election Presidential race was called in favour of the then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Israel’s former leader was among the first to share his congratulatory post on Twitter and a broadcast message for Biden. In the footage, Netanyahu said that he and Biden have had a "long & warm” friendship for over 40 years and that he sees him as "a great friend of Israel”. 

Archived recordings for NPR play friendly exchanges between the then Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and then Vice President Joe Biden’s exchanges from the latter’s visit to Israel during the Obama administration. “We've been personal friends for almost three decades. Could you believe it's been that long?” Netanyahu can be heard telling Biden. “No, you're getting older, Bibi. I don't know how it’s…" says Joe Biden as the two longtime friends share laughter. The two leaders had first met when Biden was a junior senator in his early 40s; and Netanyahu was a fledgling diplomat, as per the reports. Their friendship has since spanned nearly four decades. Trump, however, doesn’t believe so. 

Netanyahu-Biden 'didn't have a friendship,' Israeli leader responds

“For Bibi Netanyahu, before the ink was even dry, to do a message, and not only a message, to do a tape to Joe Biden talking about their great, great friendship — they didn't have a friendship, because if they did, [the Obama administration] wouldn't have done the Iran deal," Trump said in the interview. "And guess what, now they're going to do it again,” he added, calling the Iran nuclear deal a “terrible mistake” and adding that he had done more for the former Israeli prime minister “than any other person I dealt with.”

“I highly appreciate President Trump’s big contribution to Israel and its security,” Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday told Axios, defending his congratulations to US President Joe Biden. “I also appreciate the importance of the strong alliance between Israel and the US and therefore it was important for me to congratulate the incoming President," Netanyahu said in his statement on Friday. At the time that he wished the incoming American leader Biden, Netanyahu had also separately shared a post dedicated to Trump, wherein he thanked Trump "for the friendship you have shown the state of Israel and me personally, for recognizing Jerusalem and the Golan, for standing up to Iran, for the historic peace accords and for bringing the American-Israeli alliance to unprecedented heights."

Image: AP