Blasted by Trump, Netanyahu says he had to congratulate Biden

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Former Israeli occupation Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Friday said he had to congratulate US President Joe Biden on his election win, after being blasted by former US president Donald Trump for his “disloyalty.”

“Former prime minister Netanyahu really appreciates the great contribution that president Trump made to the State of Israel and its security,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.

“He also really appreciates the importance of the strong alliance between Israel and the US, and it was therefore important for him to congratulate the incoming president,” the statement added, referring to Biden.

Trump criticized Netanyahu over his congratulations to President Joe Biden after his election, saying: “I haven’t spoken to him since… F**k him.”

“The first person that congratulated [Biden] was Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump said, according to an interview published on Friday with Israeli journalist Barak Ravid for a book that he works on.

“The man that I did more for than any other person I dealt with,” Trump said.

The Israeli author said Trump repeatedly criticized Netanyahu during two interviews for his book.

In contrast to Trump’s claims that Netanyahu was the first person to congratulate Biden, Netanyahu was reportedly 12 hours late to join world leaders’ congratulations.

“I like Bibi. I still like Bibi. But I also like loyalty. The first person to congratulate Biden was Bibi. And not only did he congratulate him, he did it on tape,” Trump said, adding that he was personally disappointed. “Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible mistake.”

“I can tell you that people were very angry with him when he was the first one to congratulate Biden,” Trump said.

Referring to the so-called Abraham Accords, Trump said he believes they will be regarded “very positively”, as no one thought it was possible to get the United Arab Emirates, one of the region’s most powerful countries, to normalize ties with the occupation state of ‘Israel’.

Trump also cited actions he had taken to ensure Netanyahu’s political survival, such as the Trump’s administration’s intention to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“[Netanyahu] would have lost the election if it wasn’t for me,” Trump said.

In a further passage, published on Axios, Trump elaborated: “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. And guess what, now they’re going to do it again.”

Trump said his decision to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran — which the current administration is seeking to return to — was “because of my relations with Israel.”

He also said that had he not done so, “I think Israel would have been destroyed maybe by now.”

“Now Biden is going back to the deal because he has no clue. The Israelis fought this deal and Obama wouldn’t listen to them. The decision to back out of the deal was because of my relations with Israel — not with Bibi. Those were my feelings towards Israel.”

“Bibi did not want to make peace,” Trump also said. “Never did.”

Trump also said he had saved Netanyahu in Israel’s April 2019 election by recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.

“Take the Golan for example,” said Trump. “That was a big deal. People say that was a $10 billion gift. I did it right before the election, which helped him a lot… he would have lost the election if it wasn’t for me. So he tried. He went up a lot after I did it. He went up 10 points or 15 points after I did Golan Heights.”

Asked if he may try to run again in 2024, the former president said: “We’ll see, Maybe I will have a second term. We’ll see what happens. I am not making any plans.”

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