I became your enemy because I tell you the truth
- Israel’s longest serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is returning to power after his coalition won the parliamentary majority last month
- He and Donald Trump were famously close while both were in office
- Netanyahu told NBC host Chuck Todd to ‘keep me out of it’ when asked if he wants Trump to win the 2024 presidential race
- Netanyahu said Trump ‘did great things for Israel’ but urged him to go further in condemning Nick Fuentes after their Mar-a-Lago meeting
Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who forged a close political relationship with Donald Trump when both men were last in office, compared declaring support for the ex-US president to stepping on a ‘landmine’ on Sunday.
Last month Netanyahu led a right-wing coalition to win back the majority in Tel Aviv’s parliament, meaning Israel’s longest-serving prime minister is coming back to power after being defeated by a historically diverse coalition of opposition.
Speaking to NBC News’ Meet The Press, the longtime leader used his recent election to dodge questions on whether he’d support Trump’s 2024 campaign for president.
He also urged the former commander-in-chief to condemn anti-Semites Nick Fuentes and Kanye West in stronger terms after they dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort last month.
Trump and Netanyahu’s close public-facing relationship fractured after the ex-president branded his Israeli counterpart ‘disloyal’ for congratulating President Joe Biden on his 2020 win.
But the prime minister was careful to avoid criticism or favor on Sunday, declaring: ‘Oh God, I’ve had enough of my politics.’
‘I just won – have gone through four of our elections, you want me to get into your elections? Keep me out of it,’ Netanyahu scoffed.
Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu avoided saying if he would support Donald Trump in the 2024 American presidential election despite their past close relationship
Without naming names he pledged to work with anyone who becomes president when pressed on if a Trump win would be good for Israel.
‘Well, let me say that I’ll deal with anyone who’s elected president, those that I worked with in the past and anyone new who comes to the plate because the bond between Israel and America…It really is a bond of peoples,’ Netanyahu said.
‘I’ll deal with anyone, and I certainly will not step on that landmine that you just put before me.’
The conservative politician quipped, ‘Come on, I’ve been in this business long enough and so have you. Keep trying.’
He was also cautious in condemning Trump’s meeting with white nationalist Fuentes and rapper West, now known as Ye, pointing out that Trump ‘did great things for Israel.’
It comes amid fallout from his dining with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago last month (pictured: West, left, and Fuentes, right, are spotted at Miami airport before the meeting)
Ye made headlines last week when he called Jews pedophiles and spoke glowingly of Adolph Hitler in an interview so far out that its conspiracy theorist host Alex Jones was forced to push back on the rampant anti-Semitism being espoused.
Netanyahu called Trump’s meeting with the pair a ‘mistake’ last week.’
Trump did not immediately disavow Fuentes’ views, but in a Fox News Digital interview roughly a week later, he said: ‘I had never heard of the man – I had no idea what his views were, and they weren’t expressed at the table in our very quick dinner, or it wouldn’t have been accepted.’
‘Let me say that President Trump did great things for Israel. He recognized Jerusalem as our capital, long overdue since King David proclaimed it as such 3,000 years ago. He moved the American embassy there. He recognized our sovereignty the Golan Heights,’ Netanyahu said, listing off the Trump administration’s policy stances on Israel.
‘So he’s done all these great things, and I appreciate it. And I remain appreciative.’
But he added, ‘On this matter, on Kanye West and that other unacceptable guest, I think it’s not merely unacceptable it’s just wrong. And I hope he sees his way to staying out of it and condemning it.’
VIDEO: BBC. bi-bi: I BELIEVE in 2 STATES for 2 peoples. May 20, 2015
Michael Loyman