Netanyahu reveals how he convinced Trump to dump the Palestinians

In his new memoir – “Bibi: My Story,” set to be released this week – Netanyahu explains how he influenced U.S. Mideast policy under the Trump administration.

By World Israel News Staff

In his new memoir, scheduled to be released October 18, Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu discusses how he managed to influence American foreign policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to The Guardian, which obtained an advance copy of the book.

Netanyahu conveyed to then-U.S. president Donald Trump that the Palestinians were “hostile and wanted a border as close to Tel Aviv as the George Washington Bridge is to Trump Tower,” the Guardian reported. “A lasting peace, Trump was told, was as likely as ‘a hole-in-one through a brick wall.’”

Netanyahu also revealed the Palestinians’ double talk – saying one thing in English and quite another in Arabic.

He used maps of Hezbollah missile sites and Mossad intelligence on Iran to convince the president to pull out of the nuclear deal, the Guardian wrote.

According to the review, Netanyahu – Israel’s longest-serving prime minister – described his success with the Trump administration, noting Trump’s withdrawal from the deal, the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem, Washington’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and the signing of the Abraham Accords.

The book makes no mention of Trump cursing Netanyahu because he called President Joe Biden to congratulate him over his 2020 election victory, the Guardian notes.

‘Houston, we are the problem!’

The book, however, does include what the review describes as “colorful details of private meetings,” and Netanyahu’s referring to Trump as a president of “inherent irreverence.”

Indeed, describing Trump’s first meeting with then-Israeli president Reuven Rivlin in May 2017, Netanyahu writes: “When he was with Rivlin, Trump blurted out, ‘Bibi doesn’t want peace.’ For some unfathomable reason, this bombshell wasn’t leaked.”

The same account of the meeting was given by Trump’s ambassador to Israel David Friedman in his own book.

According to the Guardian review, “Netanyahu says Ron Dermer, then Israeli ambassador to the US, was ‘flabbergasted.’ This was not, ‘Houston, we have a problem.’ This was, ‘Houston, we are the problem!’”

The book also includes, according to Amazon, revealing accounts of Netanyahu’s “often-turbulent” relationships and negotiations with presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

‘Evolution from soldier to statesman’

Raised in a staunchly Zionist family – hi father, Benzion Netanyahu, was an activist in the Revisionist Zionism movement who lobbied in the United States to support the creation of the Jewish state– the former prime minister “narrates his own evolution from soldier to statesman, while providing a unique perspective on leadership, the fraught geopolitics of the Middle East, and his successful efforts to liberate Israel’s economy,” according to the book description.

Netanyahu and his brothers, Iddo and Yonatan (Yoni), all served in elite IDF combat units. The latter, famous as an Israeli hero, was leading a rescue mission to free 106 hostages held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976 when he was killed in action.

Benjamin NetanyahuDavid FriedmanDonald TrumpIsraeli-Palestinian conflictRon DermerUS Mideast policyUS-Israel relationsYoni Netanyahu