Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said overnight in an interview on Patrick Bet-David’s podcast that “the October 7 massacre probably would not have happened if Donald Trump were president, but it’s hard to say with these maniacs. I think Iran would have been more careful—and Iran is the patron.”
Netanyahu's interview
(Video: PBD PODCAST)
Netanyahu gave this answer after being asked the same question twice. The first time, he replied “I don’t know,” and spoke instead about the partial arms embargo imposed by former U.S. President Joe Biden on Israel, which included halting heavy munitions to pressure Israel into ending the war in Gaza.
“The president supported us at the beginning of the war after the terrible massacre,” Netanyahu said. “He came here, and I very much appreciated it.” But he noted Biden’s opposition to the operation in Rafah: “As the war went on, and as the slander and distortions in the media against Israel intensified, he began to take a different line. I said we need to go into Rafah, and he objected. He said, ‘If you go in there, I will impose an embargo on you.’”
Netanyahu continued: “You’re fighting a war on seven fronts, and suddenly they impose an arms embargo on you. It was difficult. I told President Biden, whom I’ve known for many years: I respect that you are president of the United States, but I am prime minister of the only Jewish state, and we are fighting for survival in our small place under the sun. A few days later, Blinken, who was secretary of state, came to Israel and told me, ‘The president is serious about the embargo.’ I said, ‘Tony, I know it’s serious, because you stopped all the weapons.’”
Responding to internal criticism in the U.S. that Israel controls American policy, Netanyahu said: “I carried out the Rafah operation against the president’s opposition. We aspire to control our own destiny.” After October 7, he added: “What choice do we have? We must fight them and their Iranian patrons, and that is exactly what we did. At first with America’s help, later with American opposition. And when President Trump stepped in with great assistance, I think he did what he believes is good for America. I know that for certain.”
In the same interview, Netanyahu for the first time recognized the Armenian genocide by the Turks. This was an unusual statement from an Israeli prime minister, and it came unexpectedly in an interview rather than as an official declaration. “Okay. I just did it,” Netanyahu said after the interviewer, who comes from an Assyrian background, asked why Israel had never recognized the genocide.
When the interviewer insisted the Armenian Genocide recognition must come from Netanyahu personally as prime minister, he responded: “I did it.”
The interviewer pressed: “The Holocaust is recognized by 193 countries. In some places, if you deny it, you can go to jail. But if there is any country I would expect to be among those recognizing the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocide, it is Israel. Why not?” Netanyahu answered: “I think we did. The Knesset passed a resolution on the matter.” When the interviewer insisted the recognition must come from Netanyahu personally as prime minister, he responded: “I did it.”
Meanwhile, Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, told Fox News that Trump will convene a “large meeting” at the White House Wednesday on Gaza. He said the U.S. administration is preparing “a very comprehensive plan” for the day after the war. “People will see how broad it is and how good its intentions are, and it reflects the president’s humanitarian motives,” he said.