After lashing out at Benjamin Netanyahu and accusing him of disloyalty, ex-US President Donald Trump spoke about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in newly released interview excerpts Saturday, accusing the former Israeli leader of obstructing peace.
In the latest comments broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12, Trump said he believed Netanyahu “did not want to make peace. Never did.”
The former US President said that when Netanyahu stated at the Bar-Ilan University his support for a two-state solution, he was not serious.
“Bibi did not want to make a deal,” Trump said, using Netanyahu’s nickname. “Even most recently, when we came up with the maps” as part of his administration’s peace plan, Netanyahu’s reaction was “‘Oh this is good, good,’ everything was always great, but he was never… he did not want to make a deal.”
“Now I don’t know if Netanyahu didn’t want to make it for political reasons, or for other reasons. I wish he would have said he didn’t want to make a deal, instead of…. Because a lot of people devoted a lot of work. But I don’t think Bibi would have ever made a deal. That’s my opinion. I think the general [Defense Minister Benny Gantz] wanted to make a deal.”
Here, before starting to praise Gantz, Trump surprised his Israeli interviewers by praising Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“He wanted to make a deal more than Netanyahu. And I will be honest, I had a great meeting with him, Abbas, right. I had a great meeting with him. And we spent a lot of time together, talking about many things. And it was almost like a father. I mean, he was so nice, couldn’t have been nicer.”
Trump recalled he then told Netanyahu that “I had a very good meeting with Abbas. We can definitely do a deal.”
And when asked about the Israeli leader’s response, he said, “‘Well, let’s think about it. Let’s not move too fast, you know.’ After he started talking, I said, wait a minute, you don’t want to make a deal. And he said, ‘Well, uh, uh, uh.’ And the fact is I don’t think Bibi ever wanted to make a deal.”
The former US President said he had thought the Palestinians were impossible, and the Israelis would do anything to make peace and a deal, but later found that not to be true.
Later, Trump offered his favorable opinion on Gantz, saying he wanted to make a deal.
“I really like him a lot. I thought he was great. He came to the White House. He was someone that, in my opinion, it would have been much easier to make a deal with the Palestinians… The Palestinians hate Netanyahu. They hate him with a passion. They did not hate Gantz. They didn’t hate him.”
