PM stays diplomatic during Trump call

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu carefully skirted a question by President Donald Trump on Friday ahead of the US elections after the normalization of relations between Israel and Sudan brokered by the US was announced.

“You think sleepy Joe could have made this deal, Bibi?” Trump asked Netanyahu, referring to former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate in the upcoming election. “Do you think he would have made this deal somehow?”

He added, “I don’t think so.” Netanyahu carefully avoided joining Trump’s criticism of Biden and instead said, “Well, Mr. President, one thing I can tell you is we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America.”

He nevertheless thanked Trump, saying, “We appreciate what you have done enormously.”

Footage from the phone call, which has since gone viral online, shows Trump’s smile falling as he hears Netanyahu’s response.

“Yeah,” he responded curtly. The awkward conversation came less than two weeks before the US elections on November 3.

Asked at a press conference on Saturday whether Trump embarrassed him, Netanyahu responded: “It’s very hard to embarrass me, and I very much appreciated President Trump’s support.”

Netanyahu touted the importance of support from Democrats and Republicans in Israel and pointed out that he has had disagreements with US presidents from both parties.

Still, he added, “the fact is that for 25 years we didn’t have an agreement [ with an Arab state] and under Trump, we have three agreements. That’s a fact.”

The prime minister said he does “not want to predict who will win the US election, but I hope that the US policy that led to these three agreements with Arab countries will continue.” •