Netanyahu never favoured peace with Palestinians, former US President Donald Trump has launched yet another rhetorical attack on former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, claiming that he does not want to achieve peace with the Palestinians.
He made the comments earlier this year in a series of interviews with Israeli journalist Barak Ravid for a future book, parts of which were revealed on Saturday.
Trump said in the taped remarks broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 that when he first took office, he urged Netanyahu for concessions toward the Palestinians, including the prospect of a settlement development halt in the occupied West Bank, but that the Israeli prime minister often refused.
“Bibi did not want to make a deal,” he said, using Netanyahu’s nickname. “I don’t think Bibi ever wanted to make peace. 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.”
“Now I don’t know if he didn’t want to make it for political reasons, or for other reasons. I wish he would have said he didn’t want to make a deal, instead of…. Because a lot of people devoted a lot of work. But I don’t think Bibi would have ever made a deal. That’s my opinion,” he added.
Trump holds a grudge against Netanyahu for being the first to congratulate Biden on his presidency pic.twitter.com/FGxbF40ftA
— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) July 14, 2024
Meanwhile, former US President George W. Bush said he felt Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “wanted to negotiate a deal more than Netanyahu.” And, to be honest, Abbas, I had a fantastic meeting with him. I had a fantastic conversation with him. And we spent a lot of time together, discussing a variety of topics. It was almost as if he was a father. He was so sweet, I mean, he couldn’t have been nicer.”
“I had a very good meeting with Abbas,” Trump recalled telling Netanyahu. We can surely work something out. What was Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s response? ‘Let’s think about it,’ I say. ‘Let’s not go too fast,’ I say. I said, “Wait a minute, you don’t want to make a deal,” when he started talking.
“And he said, ‘Well, uh, uh, uh.’ And the fact is I don’t think Bibi ever wanted to make a deal. I [had] thought the Palestinians were impossible, and the Israelis would do anything to make peace and a deal. I found that not to be true,” he went on to say.
Netanyahu never favoured peace with Palestinians, Trump also claimed that he was the one who stopped Israel from annexing areas of the occupied West Bank.
“I got angry and I stopped it, because that was really going too far. That was going way too far, you know, when [Netanyahu] did the big ‘Let’s build. Let’s take everything and just start building on it.’ We were not happy about that.”
The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth published more portions from Trump’s interviews on Friday.
In his remarks, Trump used an expletive to criticise Netanyahu for congratulating Joe Biden on his electoral victory last year.
“He was very early. Like earlier than most. I haven’t spoken to him since,” the former US president said.
“Nobody did more for Bibi. And I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi,” Trump added. He was “the man that I did more for than any other person I dealt with. 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. And it was on tape.”
Netanyahu’s office responded on Friday, saying that while he “truly appreciates” Trump’s support for Tel Aviv, “he also really recognises the importance of the solid partnership between Israel and the United States, and it was therefore vital for him to welcome the new president.”
In a departure from previous US policy, Trump designated occupied al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” and ordered the US embassy to be relocated from Tel Aviv to the holy city.
During his time in office, the former US president also acknowledged Israel’s fraudulent claim to sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, signalling an unprecedented escalation of Israel’s settlement growth and other aggressive initiatives.
