Media reports of Prime Minister Netanyahu's interview on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd suggest that Israel's leader has turned on former president Trump due to Trump's recent dinner with Kanye West and 24-year-old Nick Fuentes.  As the transcript of that Meet the Press interview shows, Bibi tried mightily to avoid stepping on the land mines intricately laid by Todd.

Given the conversation, it's likely the Israeli prime minister directly experienced Todd as a liar and will think again before appearing on this anti-truth propaganda show.  What is the basis for saying Todd lied to the prime minister?  Read the start of the transcript of the interview, where Todd assures Mr. Netanyahu that he will ask him about this recently published autobiography.  After you peruse the transcript, you will have found no discussion of Netanyahu's book.  What you will find throughout this transcript are numerous attempts by the execrable Todd to sandbag the prime minister into turning on former president Trump.

Perhaps Prime Minister Netanyahu did not chide Todd, at the end of the interview, with this comment — "next time, Chuck, I look forward to talking with you about my new book" — because there will be no next appearance by the prime minister on this vile moderator's show.

How despicable is this foul-mouthed Todd?  You will find in the transcript the unacceptable, false, foul claim that Donald J. Trump "has been elevating people who praise Hitler."  In the following excerpt, the Israel prime minister signaled to Todd that he was fully aware of what Todd was up to:

CHUCK TODD: Would you like to see him [Trump] as American president though? Is that good for Israel in your mind?

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Well, let me say that I'll deal with anyone who's elected president, those that I worked with in the past and anyone new who comes to the plate because the bond between Israel and America, and this was not a shibboleth, this was not just a saying. 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 land mine that you just put before me, Chuck. Come on, I've been in this business long enough and so have you. Keep trying.

My observation: Is there any other world leader Todd would treat as he treated the Jewish head of government of a sovereign state?  Perhaps we should consider a certain bias that afflicts this moderator, who should have been "chucked" off television years ago for tearing down the news program established by Lawrence Spivak in 1947 and putting in its place what should be called "The Meet the U.S. Pravda Show."

You can find the transcript for the Netanyahu interview with Todd in full here.  Warning: You may well feel a deep sense of revulsion by the end of the interview.  However, below I've included the most overt landmines, which start with Todd jumping right into inquiries of antisemitism in order to lay the framework for an attack on President Trump:

TODD: And I wanted to start off to make sure you knew we were going to talk about your book, and I do want to talk about it, but I want to start with this issue of antisemitism. And it is rising around the globe and here in the United States. What do you attribute this to?

To this, Netanyahu replies eloquently and soundly, before Todd interrupts, and then switches the topic and says:

TODD: Look, you've got a unique relationship with former President Trump. He has consistently flirted with some really fringe characters that spout this antisemitic behavior, that preach white supremacy and white nationalism, things like that. And he doesn't denounce it. He has yet to denounce Kanye West at all. He's yet to denounce being with a white supremacist a few days ago. Why does he have this difficulty, do you think?

Again, Netanyahu, ever the statesman, doesn't claim to know what he does not know, before recognizing the great work of Trump on behalf of the diaspora and Israel.  Todd ignores that — he just wants a full-throated castigation:

TODD: You do seem though to — you want to praise him for what he did for you. It's an ends justifies the means argument. And at what point does his behavior end up impact — I mean, if his behavior is creating death threats to Jews, inspiring people, like what happened at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, to shoot and kill Jews, doesn't that wipe away anything good he did for Israel?

Despite Netanyahu's intimacy with and love for the Jewish people, he acknowledges that violent acts of antisemitism are not the fault of one "personality" or the other — rather, he attributes the rising occurrences to the "internet age" and the accompanying "polarization."  He says:

NETANYAHU: In the case of antisemitism it's the melding, the fusion of the antisemitism from the extreme, radical left with the extreme, radical right.

But Todd won't let it go:

TODD: I understand. Are you at all concerned though that if you, if your government gets what you want you overlook, whether it's Vladimir Putin, who's also an antisemite, or Donald Trump? I mean, what is the line for you?

Netanyahu replies:

NETANYAHU: I don't overlook antisemitism. I have a clear position against it, which I voice and I expect others to voice as well, as I've just said on this program. But I think if you ask about the — you're asking a deeper problem which I, which I deal with in my book — I'll plug it relentlessly during this program if you don't[.]

Here's the last bit, just to emphasize how pathological Todd really is:

TODD: Would you like to see Donald Trump —

NETANYAHU: I don't give passes —

TODD: — as president again?

NETANYAHU: — to anyone on this one.

TODD: Would you like to see Donald Trump as president again?

NETANYAHU: Oh, God. I've had, I've had enough of my politics. I've just won, gone through four of our elections. You want me to get into your elections? Keep me out of it.

TODD: Would you like to see him as American president though? Is that good for Israel in your mind?

The interview goes on, clearly as a minefield, and ends with Todd saying:

When we come back, Donald Trump is now calling for the overturning of the Constitution as his 2024 campaign becomes even more desperate ...

Liar or no?

Image: U.S. National Archives, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.