Netanyahu insists he won't step on 'landmine' question about Trump: 'Keep trying'
Israeli Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu won the majority in Israel's November elections
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Israeli Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday that he wouldn't step on his "landmine" question about possibly seeing Donald Trump as president again and told the NBC host to "keep trying."
Todd pressed Netanyahu about Trump and whether he would like to see him in the Oval Office again.
"I’ve had enough of my politics," Netanyahu said. "I just went gone through four of our elections. You want me to get into your elections? Keep me out of it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Todd followed up and asked if he would like to see Trump as president again and if it was "good for Israel."
Benjamin Netanyahu joins NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. (Screenshot/NBC/MeetThePress)
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"I will deal with anyone who is elected president, those that I work with in the past and anyone new comes to the plate, because of the bond between Israel and America," Netanyahu said. "It really is a bond of peoples and it's a civilizational bond, and it’s strong. I’ll deal with anyone and I certainly will not step on that landmine that you just put before me, Chuck. Come on, I've been in this business long enough and so have you. Keep trying," Netanyahu said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Todd said "fair enough" and that he appreciated him saying "keep trying."
The NBC host also asked Netanyahu about antisemitism earlier in the interview in light of Trump's meeting with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
"You’ve been more critical of some congressional Democrats who are critical of the Israeli government than you are of a Donald Trump who’s been elevating people who praise Hitler. Is that go to this sort of transactional nature, if it’s, you know, that they’re helping Israel. And if they’re helping Israel, that’s what’s got to come first?" Todd asked.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former Israeli Prime Minister and Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to supporters through inside a modified truck with a side bulletproof glass during a campaign event on October 29, 2022, in Bnei Brak, Israel. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images) ((Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images))
Netanyahu said he had just "nullified" that argument on the program and said he came out against the meeting.
"Sorry, Chuck, I just nullified that argument on this very program and on prove programs, when I came out very strongly against that meeting with that – those antisemitic rantings, which, in the case of at least one of the participants, seems to be something that is, how shall I say this – related to personalities more than, probably more than views, but they’re bad enough either way you don't exculpate them," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former President Donald Trump announces he is running for president for the third time at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
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"Whoever says it for whatever reason is wrong. You don’t praise Hitler, you don't praise - how can you praise Hitler? Hitler was the greatest mass killer of all time. Anybody who praises him is wrong. Anybody who meets with them, gives him legitimacy, is wrong," he continued.
Netanyahu said in November during an interview that antisemitism has taken on a new "pernicious" form today.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I would say that antisemitism today has taken on a pernicious new form, because it's not fashionable to say you're an antisemite," Netanyahu told The Blaze. "You say, ‘Well, I'm anti-Zionist’ - You don't even say, ‘I'm anti-Israel,’ you say, ‘I'm anti-Zionist.’"