From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Former US envoy Friedman: Trump doesn’t care about Netanyahu’s call to Biden anymore
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Former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman says he does not see any chance Donald Trump will withhold military aid to Israel should he win back the presidency, and that his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely be patched up.
“I think he’ll want to understand better why Israel hasn’t won by November,” Trump’s envoy to Israel tells Channel 12 news. “His view has been to give Israel what it needs to win.”
Friedman, who bought a home in Israel after ending his posting when US President Joe Biden took office, says he thinks ties between Trump and Netanyahu will likely go back to being extremely warm should the Israeli premier still hold power if Trump returns to the White House.
Trump has angrily lashed out at Netanyahu since leaving office over the fact that the Israeli leader called Biden to congratulate him on winning the presidency. He has also repeatedly criticized Netanyahu for declining to back the US operation to assassinate Iranian general Qasem Soleimani
Friedman indicates that the famously thin-skinned Trump has bigger fish to fry than obsessing over Netanyahu’s call to Biden in 2021. “I don’t think he spends five seconds thinking about that call,” he says.
“The relationship is bigger than two people,” Friedman adds, and Trump is “committed to an unprecedented [sic] strong relationship between Israel and the United States.”
The Times of Israel Community.