What did Obama really think about Netanyahu – advisor reveals

The former senior advisor said that the Israeli government headed by Bennett was a “healthy break” from former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

By Tobias Siegal, World Israel News

Ben Rhodes, who served as a senior advisor to former U.S. president Barack Obama, praised Israeli PM Naftali Bennett and denigrated former PM Benjamin Netanyahu in a podcast aired over the weekend.

Speaking to Israeli journalist Yonit Levi and British columnist Jonathan Freedland on their podcast “UNHOLY,” Rhodes said that the Israeli government headed by Bennett was a “healthy break” from former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was known to have a complicated relationship with Obama, to say the least.

Rhodes noted that following Obama’s visit to Israel in 2013, he knew that “Netanyahu would create a conflict for the sake of internal politics and it would be devastating,” later insinuating that Netanyahu was seeking to publicly humiliate Obama.

Addressing Bennett, Rhodes said that he much prefers “a politician from the right who is at least honest and openly objects to a Palestinian state so we can all talk about it – about what it may mean to the future of the region and the Palestinians – rather than someone who pretends the year is 1994.”

He added that it was always clear to him that Netanyahu never believed in the idea of a Palestinian state. “He wanted a process for the sake of the process,” he said.