'Haven't spoken to him, f**k him': Years after cursing him, Trump meets Netanyahu amid protests

Four years after their last meeting, former US President Donald Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his home on Friday.

Netanyahu is on a visit to the United States. After addressing a joint session of the Congress on Thursday, he separately met President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. A day later, he is meeting Trump today.

Netanyahu, the longest-serving Israeli premier, has counted his relationship with key political players in the United States as his key strengths. For the four years that he was the Israeli premier and Trump was in the White House, the two projected the best of the relationship — but that was not for long.

In 2021, barely a year out of office, Trump slammed Netanyahu as disloyal and cursed him.

In an interview with journalist and author Barak Ravid, Trump said he had not spoken to Netanyahu since their last meeting in 2020.

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“I haven’t spoken to him since. F**k him,” said Trump to Ravid in 2021.

Now, three years after he abused Netanyahu, Trump has welcomed him at his Mar-a-Lago home amid US election season. For months, he has maintained that Hamas would have never attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, if he were the President of the United States. Even though he has long claimed to be the best friend of Israel, he has repeatedly criticised Netanyahu in recent past and has called for the ongoing war to end quickly.

How Trump and Netanyahu had falling out

Trump told Ravid that he liked Netanyahu but slammed him as disloyal.

Citing that Netanyahu congratulated Biden after he won the 2020 US presidential election, Trump said that it was a terrible mistake.

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Trump and his supporters of the far-right Make America Great Agan (MAGA) movement have baselessly been claiming since 2020 that Biden and the Democrats ‘stole’ the election from Trump and it was Trump who actually won it. In a bid to illegally overturn the election result in his favour, Trump egged on a mob on January 6, 2021, which attacked the US Congress. The intention of the mob, which had several members armed with guns, was to disrupt the certification of the election result.

In an article for Axios, Ravid quoted Trump as saying in an interview that Netanyahu could have stayed quiet but he wished Biden and made a “terrible mistake”.

“I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi. But I also like loyalty. The first person to congratulate Biden was Bibi Netanyahu, the man that I did more for than any other person I dealt with, and not only did he congratulate him, he did it on tape…Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible mistake,” said Trump in the interview, referring to Netanyahu by his popular nickname Bibi.

As with many of his claims, Trump’s claim was false. Ravid fact-checked in the Axios article that Netanyahu was not the first leader to congratulate Biden and he took more than 12 hours to send the message.

Ravid further wrote that Trump believed that he had ensured Netanyahu’s political survival but he did not acknowledge it. Recalling that he walked out of the Iran Nuclear Deal that Netanyahu did not like, moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, and recognised Golan Heights as Israeli territory, he said that Netanyahu would have lost the elections if he would not have done these things.

In another incident cited by Ravid that soured the relationship, when Trump asked Netanyahu just 10 days before the 2020 election if “Sleepy Joe” could have cut Abraham Accords, instead of satisfying him with a partisan statement, Netanyahu said: “Mr. President, one thing I can tell you is we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America.”

Ravid wrote that Trump “bristled” at the response.

Separately, Trump also blasted Netanyahu for his conduct in the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general of the Quds Force, the foreign intelligence and operations wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of Iran, the archenemy of Israel. He said that Israel “let us down” during the operation without going into the details.

Are Trump and Netanyahu friends again?

Years after repeatedly slamming him, Trump is now meeting Netanyahu. Both the leaders are looking to score political points.

While Trump is projecting himself as a statesman who could end the war in Gaza all by himself, Netanyahu is shoring support as he faces a political uprising at home against his failure to win the war against Hamas and secure the release of hostages held by terrorists. As Trump’s victory in the election is quite likely, Netanyahu is also looking forward to mend ties in case Trump assumes office.

But Trump and Netanyahu are not on the same page entirely. While Netanyahu has said that the war should go on until Hamas is defeated, Trump has said it needs to end quickly and the world does not have patience anymore.

“You have to end this fast. It can’t continue to go on like this. It’s too long. It’s too much,” said Trump in an interview with Fox News.

Trump further said, “Israel has to handle their public relations. Their public relations are not good. And they’ve got to get this done fast because the world — the world is not taking lightly to it. It’s really incredible.”