Benjamin Netanyahu was the youngest Prime Minister of Israel and is now primed towards becoming one of the oldest Prime Ministers of Israel. He has already served as Prime Minister longer than any other Prime Minister of Israel and is now in a very unique place to write his memoirs, before his next term in the Prime Minister’s office begins.
The most fascinating aspect of Bibi Netanyahu’s time in office has been the many Presidents of the United States that he has dealt with. He worked with Bill Clinton in his first stint, despite significant differences. He served for a short time while George W. Bush was ending his 8 years in the White House.
But undoubtedly, the most momentous time for Benjamin Netanyahu were the eight years that he led Israel while Barack Obama was President. Many people properly believed that Barack Obama treated Benjamin Netanyahu horribly from Day 1 that they met. In this interview, Netanyahu all but said that Obama was a vicious anti-Israel President that made it clear to Netanyahu that Israel did not have a friend in the White House and that Obama was determined to change the world and the Middle East during his term of office.
Well, Netanyahu seemed to understand more than Obama himself what the limits of power of the Executive Branch were. Therefore, Netanyahu made it a point to basically give in to President Obama on many things during the first two years of the Obama administration. However, once the 2010 midterms established a Republican majority in Congress, Netanyahu decided to fight back. He confronted Obama on the Iran issue and did not merely make speeches in Israel. He went to the UN in New York and made a speech that clearly was focused on the folly of the US policy versus Iran.
But the high point was when Netanyahu managed to negotiate an invite to Congress itself and gave a masterful speech to a rousing ovation. The speech did not merely defend Israel. It was a direct hit on the Obama administration’s appeasement policy in the worldwide war on terror. Obama was embarrassed and fumed at Netanyahu. Perhaps it was that speech that led to so much of Israel viewing Netanyahu as a proud Israeli leader.
This interview is refreshing and reveals much of the amazing story of Prime Minister Netanyahu.