Trump was played
Trump: I thought Israelis would do anything for
peace, but found that not to be true
By TOI staff
December 17, 202:
Information Clearing House
-- "Times
of Israel" -
In newly released interview excerpts
Saturday, former United States president Donald
Trump offered more startlingly frank views on
Israel’s leadership during his time in office, a
day after he was quoted in
an astounding assault on ex-premier Benjamin
Netanyahu.
In the latest taped comments broadcast by Channel
12, Trump said he believed Netanyahu “did not want
to make peace. Never did”; claimed he prevented the
Israeli leader from annexing West Bank land (“I got
angry and I stopped it”); offered his favorable
opinion on Defense Minister Benny Gantz (“I think
[he] wanted to make a deal… if he won, I think it
would be a lot easier”); and his evolving view on
the Israel-Palestinian conflict (“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”).
Speaking to journalist Barak Ravid earlier this
year for an upcoming book, the ex-president
commented on his efforts to mediate between
Jerusalem and Ramallah, and his feeling as time went
on that Netanyahu wasn’t truly interested in
reaching a settlement.
Trump said that when he came into office, he’d
asked Netanyahu for overtures toward the
Palestinians, raising the possibility of a
construction freeze in the West Bank, but the
Israeli leader often demurred.
“Bibi did not want to make a deal,” he said,
using Netanyahu’s nickname. “Even most recently,
when we came up with the maps” as part of his
administration’s peace plan, Netanyahu’s reaction
was “‘Oh this is good, good,’ everything was always
great, but he was never… he did not want to make a
deal.
“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. I think the general
[Gantz] wanted to make a deal.”
Trump said he believed that Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas “wanted to make a deal more
than Netanyahu. And I will be honest, I had a great
meeting with him, Abbas, right. I had a great
meeting with him. And we spent a lot of time
together, talking about many things. And it was
almost like a father. I mean, he was so nice,
couldn’t have been nicer.”
Trump recalled he then told Netanyahu that “I had
a very good meeting with Abbas. We can definitely do
a deal.” The Israeli leader’s response? “‘Well,
let’s think about it. Let’s not move too fast, you
know.’ After he started talking, I said, wait a
minute, you don’t want to make a deal.
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“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.”
Despite Trump’s frustration with Netanyahu, he
went on to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
and announce the relocation there of the American
embassy, leading the Palestinians to break off ties
with Washington.
“I don’t think Bibi ever wanted to make peace,”
Trump repeated. “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.”
Trump was far more positive in his comments on
Benny Gantz, who in 2020 formed a power-sharing
government with Netanyahu, and was supposed to take
over from him as premier after a set period of time
(the deal was never honored, the government
collapsed, and new elections ousted Netanyahu from
power).
“So, Benny Gantz. I really like him a lot. I
thought he was great. He came to the White House. He
was someone that, in my opinion, it would have been
much easier to make a deal with the Palestinians…
The Palestinians hate Netanyahu. They hate him with
a passion. They did not hate Gantz. They didn’t hate
him.
“I liked the general a lot. In fact, I said to
Jared [Kushner] and David [Friedman], that if he
became the guy, if he won, I think it would be a lot
easier,” Trump said, referring to his son-in-law and
adviser and his ambassador to Israel, respectively.
When Trump announced his peace plan in January
2020, Netanyahu immediately claimed the
administration had given its okay for Israel to
annex major chunks of the West Bank containing
Israeli settlements, to the jubilation of the
Israeli right and alarm of the Palestinians and many
international observers.
But Washington quickly expressed reservations,
and as time went on it became apparent that the
supposed greenlight had not, in fact, been given.
Israel eventually abandoned the annexation plan as
part of its deal to normalize relations with the
United Arab Emirates and Bahrain later that year,
under American auspices.
Trump, in the interview, said he had stopped the
Israeli annexation plan himself.
“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.”
Trump also spoke of his
popularity in Israel, one of the only countries
in the world in which he had consistently favorable
ratings.
“In Israel, I’m the most popular person… Who are
the 20 percent [in Israel who don’t support me] that
are so ungrateful? They are bad people.”
Trump spoke to Ravid in April and July for the
reporter’s new Hebrew-language book, “Trump’s
Peace,” about the Abraham Accords normalization
deals between Israel and Arab states, which were
brokered under the Trump administration.
Excerpts from the interviews were also released
Friday by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, and by Channel
12, ahead of the book’s release.
In excerpts released Friday, Trump assailed
Netanyahu for ostensibly congratulating Joe Biden
hours after he was declared winner of the 2020
election by all major news outlets.
“He was very early. Like earlier than most. I
haven’t spoken to him since. Fuck him,” Trump said.
“Nobody did more for Bibi. And I liked Bibi. I
still like Bibi,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu
by his nickname. 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 was actually
quite late in congratulating Biden in November
of last year, conspicuously doing so long hours
after many other world leaders.
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,” rather than
out of personal ties to Netanyahu.
And he claimed 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.”
Trump also said he had saved Netanyahu in
Israel’s April 2019 election by
recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli
territory. That election was the first of four
inconclusive national polls in two years of
political chaos that lasted until Netanyahu was
removed from power by the current government.
“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 tied. He went up a lot after
I did it. He went up 10 points or 15 points after I
did Golan Heights.”
Trump’s statements in the interviews back up
reporting by US journalist Michael Wolff, who wrote
in his account of Trump’s presidency that he
considered Netanyahu’s message to Biden the
“ultimate betrayal.”
Trump raged to aides that Netanyahu congratulated
Biden “before the ink was dry.” Wolff’s book,
“Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency,”
was published in July.
Trump refused to concede defeat, making
unsubstantiated allegations of serious fraud and
vowing to take his case to the courts, actions that
ultimately encouraged his followers to storm the US
Capitol building in an attempt to stop the
certification of Biden’s election victory.
Trump’s apparent anger came despite Netanyahu
being one of the last major world leaders to
congratulate Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In response to the quotes, Netanyahu’s office on
Friday said he “really appreciates” Trump’s backing
for Israel, but “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.”
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