Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stand on Tuesday in his long-running corruption trial, revealing stark disagreements with then-U.S. President Barack Obama over Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional influence as well as the peace process with the Palestinians.
In some five hours of testimony in the Tel Aviv District Court, Netanyahu pushed back against prosecutors’ portrayal of him as a leader preoccupied with media coverage and luxury gifts. Instead, he detailed high-stakes diplomatic confrontations he said had shaped Israel’s security landscape.
“Obama made it clear to me that U.S. policy was going to take a sharp turn against the ideas I believed in,” Netanyahu testified, recounting his earliest interactions with the former American leader. “He saw Iran not as a threat but as an opportunity, and saw a vital need for us to return to the 1967 lines and establish a Palestinian state.”
The testimony offered a rare glimpse into the diplomatic tensions that marked U.S.-Israel relations during that period.
Netanyahu also recounted a particularly pointed exchange with then-Secretary of State John Kerry over Judea and Samaria. According to the testimony, Kerry dismissed Israeli security concerns, citing the American training of Palestinian forces.
“Kerry explained to me that my fear of placing security in Judea and Samaria in Palestinian forces’ hands was unfounded because the Americans were training Palestinian forces, and we could withdraw,” explained Netanyahu.
“Obama suggested I make a secret visit to Afghanistan to see how American forces were training local forces. I told him the moment you leave Afghanistan, these forces will collapse under Islamist forces, and that’s exactly what happened,” he added.
