Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahudismissed reportsthat President Donald Trump called him "f----- crazy," insisting he regards his relationship with the Republican administration as a family matter.
Netanyahu made the remarks during an interview with CNBC, addressingseveral key prioritiesof his government, including ties with the United States. When questioned about a heated telephone exchange with the American leader, Netanyahu said that while he would not disclose specifics of the conversation, it was entirely normal for "families" to have disagreements on particular matters.
"If you think this is a crisis, you should be in some other conversations. But we've always found a way. We have so many agreements. We agree on the main things. We want to get Iran, the nuclear program in Iran, finished.
"We want to make sure that Iran doesn't pose a threat toIsrael, to the Middle East, to America, that it doesn't develop nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them not only to Israel and to every capital in Europe, but to every city in the United States," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu stated Israel does not require US backing. He said: "One of the senators in the American Senate said, 'If we had an Israel instead of an Afghanistan, we wouldn't have had to spend $1 trillion - we would spend a fraction of a fraction of that,' which was, you know, a few billion dollars a year.
"But I said, 'We don't need that, either." Netanyahu added: "That's our common goal. That's what we set out to do, and to expand the circle of peace, as the President and I did in the Abraham Accords together. So we have common goals.
"Sometimes we have, as in the best of families, you have these tactical disagreements. We always find a way to work them out, and we do so as great friends. We can disagree in the morning and by the afternoon we have common action."
Netanyahu's remarks come amid multiple reports suggesting the American president unleashed a furious tirade against the Israeli leader over strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.
"What the f--- are you doing?" Trump reportedly told Netanyahu on Monday, according to Axios, which first reported on the tense calls.
"You're f----- crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this," the president continued, unnamed members of the administration told the news outlet.
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
