Ron Dermer, who was Israel's ambassador to the US during the Trump era, opposes the words of the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as if former Prime Minister Netanyahu had reservations about the historic decision of the US to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Dermer responded to the allegations written in Kushner's new book, "Breaking into History: Memoirs of the White House."
The president's son-in-law wrote, among other things, that on the eve of Trump's decision on the recognition of Jerusalem, there was another phone conversation between Trump and Netanyahu on the issue.
According to him, Netanyahu sounded unenthusiastic when Trump informed him of the decision and only said "if you choose to do this, I will support you."
Kushner says that Netanyahu "reacted with less enthusiasm than expected", and that this response caused confusion for the president.
Dermer says in response that Trump or his people, "had no reason to be confused."
In the 'undiplomatic' conclusion, Dermer said that Netanyahu and all his advisors raised the request for recognition of Jerusalem even before Trump took office and after, many times.
"When the prime minister came to Washington in February 2017, and when Trump came to Jerusalem in May of that year, he heard from Netanyahu all his support for the process. Trump and his team have been hearing from Netanyahu and me for a year, how much we want this decision (the recognition of Jerusalem). Netanyahu from the beginning to the end was in favor This decision and I worked in Washington to promote it."
Dermer says that Trump shared with Netanyahu the American intelligence's fear of a war flare-up following the recognition of Jerusalem.
To this Netanyahu replied that "our intelligence does not show that there will be an explosion. But even if there was such intelligence he would support the decision because it is so important to us."
Dermer also reveals that during one of the rounds of talks with the Americans on the subject, Netanyahu took the head of the National Assembly at the time, Meir Ben Shabat, off the plane just before taking off for Africa, so that the Americans would receive an unequivocal message regarding Israel's support for the move.
Regarding the phone call that confused the president, Dermer says that "I was on the call. It involved a cold intelligence analysis. Maybe that's what led to the confusion."
The former Israeli ambassador, who is considered the most influential in Washington of all time, also rejects Kushner's claim that the sovereignty move, which Netanyahu announced with the presentation of the 'Plan of the Century' in January 2020, was not coordinated with the Americans.
According to him, an exchange of letters signed by Trump and Netanyahu from that time, confirms the intention to annex parts of the Israel Defense Forces.
"If Trump was surprised (by the sovereignty period) it means that he did not know what he signed. And I am surprised that Jared is surprised because he has read these letters and he knows what is in them. He should be asked why he is surprised. It is explicitly stated in them that the U.S. You will support the application of Israeli law to those territories that the Trump plan marked as those that will remain in Israel's hands, and this is about 30 percent of the territory."
Dermer, one of Netanyahu's closest advisers, adds that "the Prime Minister at the time took a huge political risk during the election, when he accepted the plan. I can assure you that without these letters, Netanyahu would not have come to Washington. The administration backed away from the commitment."
Dermer emphasized in the conversation that President Trump himself said in his speech at the ceremony that the application of sovereignty would be immediate.
It should be noted that former ambassador Friedman also rejects Kushner's version and says that Israel and the US agreed on the immediate implementation of the sovereignty move.
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