Trump’s attack on Benjamin Netanyahu for congratulating the president-elect is “absolutely crazy; he is a pathetic man,” said Ehud Olmert.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Donald Trump “pathetic” and “crazy” for profanely attacking Benjamin Netanyahu because he recognized Joe Biden’s presidential victory in November.
Netanyahu, who was the Israeli prime minister throughout the Trump administration, did what most world leaders do: He recognized and congratulated the duly elected president of the United States, Olmert suggested in the opening session Monday of the Annual Leadership Dialogue on Israel-UK-Australia Relations.
Yet Trump reportedly was furious that Netanyahu congratulated Biden after he won the election.
“I haven’t spoken to him since. Fuck him,” Trump reportedly told Israeli journalist Barak Ravid in an interview earlier this year for Ravid’s new book, “Trump Peace.”
Trump added: “I like Bibi [Netanyahu] … but I also like loyalty.” He “could have stayed quiet. He made a terrible mistake.”
Olmert called Trump’s reaction “absolutely crazy.” He accused Trump of judging everything according to his own “personal interest.”
“Trump says the fact that Bibi congratulated Biden is a betrayal, as if the relationship of Israel and America rests entirely on the personal desires of Donald Trump. This is absolutely crazy. I think he’s a pathetic person,” Olmert said.
He pointed out that, contrary to Trump’s claims that Netanyahu congratulated Biden “very early,” he in fact waited so long that it “became embarrassing” from the “friendliest nation to America.”
Netanyahu himself responded last week to Trump’s slam, noting in a statement that, although he appreciated the former president’s work on behalf of the nation, Israel’s relationship with the U.S. remains vital and that it was “important” to “congratulate the incoming President.”
It’s highly unusual for Olmert to defend Netanyahu. He emphasized that he doesn’t like, trust or “believe in [Netanyahu’s] integrity.”
