Presidents have F---’s to give when it’s about Israel’s Bibi Netanyahu
What is it about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu that drives American presidents to profanity? As Iran and Israel were still exchanging salvos after President Donald Trump had declared a ceasefire, Trump complained that these two countries "had been fighting for so long they don't know what the f--- they are doing." Trump’s anger came through, and the ceasefire is holding — for now. While Trump is the latest president to send profanity in Netanyahu’s direction, he is far from the only one. In fact, presidents have been cursing at Netanyahu for three decades.
In the 1990s, Netanyahu and President Bill Clinton had a contentious relationship. In two separate elections, 1996 and 1999, Clinton sent political aides to try and defeat Netanyahu. He succeeded the second time. In the interim, though, they had to work together, and on one visit to the White House, Clinton was annoyed with how Netanyahu comported himself at a joint press conference. Afterward, Clinton reportedly fumed to his aides, "who’s the f---ing leader of the free world?," suggesting that Netanyahu had overstepped his boundaries.
Due in no small part to Clinton’s efforts, Netanyahu was out of office during President George W. Bush’s years, but cussing came back with Netanyahu’s return during President Barack Obama’s time in office. Netanyahu and Obama really disliked each other, and had a number of unpleasant run-ins, including one incident where Obama left Netanyahu and his team to cool their heels in the White House while Obama went to have dinner at the residence.
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Then, as now, the Iranian nuclear program and the matter of the Palestinians were matters of intense debate. Obama and company felt that Netanyahu was too cowardly on both issues. A senior Obama official, who may have been Obama himself, told The Atlantic that Netanyahu was "a chickensh***." The remark sparked outrage, especially since Netanyahu had been a decorated soldier in the Israeli special forces. Netanyahu pushed back on the comment, saying in a statement that "The attack on me comes because I defend the State of Israel and despite all the attacks, I will continue to defend our country and the citizens of Israel."
Trump followed Obama and, by all accounts, they had a far better relationship, punctuated by important milestones such as the moving of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and the signing of the Abraham Accords peace deals between Israel and four Arab countries. But Bibi also irked Trump by calling President Joe Biden to congratulate him for his 2020 election victory. This move managed to anger both Biden, who felt that Netanyahu had waited too long to make the call, and Trump, who felt that Netanyahu had betrayed him by calling at all. Trump signaled afterward that he was done with Netanyahu, saying starkly, "f--- him."
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Trump has three more years in office, but it will be hard for him to break the cursing at Netanyahu record set by Biden. Multiple reports have Biden launching streams of profane invective at Netanyahu, including calling Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas "two of the biggest f---ing a--sholes in the world" ; saying that Netanyahu was "a f---ing liar," and adding, for good measure, that "Eighteen out of 19 people who work for him are f---ing liars."; and barking, "That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad f---ing guy!"
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Biden also was not above cursing at Netanyahu directly. When Israel killed Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukur, a fiend who helped kill 241 U.S. Marines in 1983, Biden should have praised Bibi for bringing Shukur to justice. Instead, he screamed at Netanyahu over the phone, "Bibi, what the f---?"
With Trump now back in office, the two men have mostly cooperated, with Trump helping to release some of the Israeli hostages from Hamas’ Gaza dungeons and striking the Iranian nuclear program, which elated Netanyahu. Yet the "they don't know what the f--- they are doing" incident shows that Netanyahu has the capacity to drive even friendly U.S. presidents to profanity. The question is why. One reason is that Netanyahu, unlike American presidents, lives in a dangerous neighborhood and faces constant existential threats. While some world leaders might acquiesce in a disagreement with the American president, Bibi is more likely to push back.
A second reason lies in the way Netanyahu pushes back. His method, which he absorbed from his father’s mentor, the Zionist leader Zev Jabotinsky, is to reach over the heads of the presidents and directly to the American people. As the record of profanity sent in his direction suggests, this method tends to annoy presidents. It also appears to have led to a grievous and welcome blow to the Iranian nuclear program.