Backstory Emerges on Bibi and Trump

That inside story has been generating headlines in Israel for the past week, as veteran journalist Barak Ravid gets the scoop in a new Hebrew book on the leaders’ relationship.

“Former president Trump has a feeling that he was used by former prime minister Netanyahu on Iran, as well as on the Palestinian issue,” Ravid tells Mishpacha. Ravid’s new book, Hashalom shel Trump: Heskemei Avraham V’hamahapach b’Mizrach HaTichon (“Trump’s Peace: The Abraham Accords and the Revolution in the Middle East”), drew on two lengthy interviews with President Trump this year.

According to Ravid, one thing he learned through his work on the book, and especially from his interviews with the former president (in April and July), is that personal relations between Trump and Netanyahu weren’t nearly as warm as they seemed. It was a high priority for Trump to look out for Israel. But ultimately, he didn’t really care which Israeli leader he had at his side when he signed the peace deals he was so sure he would achieve.

“He liked Netanyahu very much, and still does,” notes Ravid, “but the top of his priorities was the deals themselves. He also said that the full effects of the deals might not become apparent for many years. He told me that if he were in Biden’s place, he would expand on them and sign with more countries.”