JERUSALEM — Former President Donald Trump lashed out with profanity at Benjamin Netanyahu for congratulating President Joe Biden on his victory in the last year's election, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday.
Trump accused the former Israeli leader of disloyalty and said he had helped Netanyahu in his own election by reversing decades of U.S. policy and supporting Israel's claims to territory seized in war. Trump is falsely claiming that the U.S. election was stolen from him.
In interviews earlier this year with Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, Trump expressed fury at a video that Netanyahu had circulated online in which he congratulated Biden.
I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi, Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname, in the remarks published by the Yediot Aharonot newspaper. I also like loyalty. Bibi could have stayed quiet. He made a terrible mistake. Netanyahu congratulated Biden more than 12 hours after the election had been called and after most other world leaders. In the tweet, Netanyahu did not refer to him as the president-elect, and followed it up with a post praising Trump.
The video released by Netanyahu on January 20, the day Biden was inaugurated, was particularly incensed by Trump's remarks that he and Biden had a warm personal friendship going back many decades. I haven't spoken to him since. Trump was quoted as saying that.
Netanyahu was replaced as Prime Minister last summer after he was unable to form a majority in the wake of four hard-fought elections in less than two years.
The Trump administration took unprecedented measures to support Israel, including dropping objections to its settlements in the occupied West Bank and recognizing Jerusalem as its capital. After proposing a Mideast plan that was adamantly rejected by the Palestinians, the administration brokered normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab states.
Trump said his decision to recognize Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, which was captured in 1967 from Syria, helped Netanyahu ahead of Israeli elections in April 2019.
I did it right before the election, which helped him Netanyahu a lot, Trump said.
Israel opposed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and the Trump administration withdrew from it. After he imposed U.S. sanctions that had been lifted under the deal, Iran began publicly exceeding the limits it had set on its nuclear program. Biden is working with world powers to restore the agreement.
I think Israel is going to be destroyed, if I do not come along, I think Israel is going to be destroyed, Trump said.