He may be ruthless, taking account of what Israel is doing towards Palestine, but he is die-hard Israel nationalist. To him, Israel interest is the first Priority. Netanyahu recalls the well-attended Israel Solidarity rally in Trafalgar Square in May 2002 in the midst of suicide bombings by Palestinian Islamists and falsehoods about the Jenin ‘massacre’, taken up by sections of the British media. There was considerable internal debate within Jewish leadership as to whether it was wise to call upon Netanyahu’s services to present the case for Israel. Netanyahu pledged not to be controversial, but on the day could not resist the temptation to reach rhetorical heights — telescoping Chamberlain, appeasement, Churchill, the British in Palestine, Palestinian terrorists, antisemites, Arafat and the PLO into one long monologue. Richard Harries, the then Bishop of Oxford, commented later that Netanyahu ‘used the occasion for his own political purposes’. Netanyahu’s autobiography is primarily directed at an American audience. This is not surprising as he spent 18 years in the US, but it is also the country where power lies. Britain is, on the other hand, seen as an island off the coast of northern Europe that once occupied the Land of Israel. Yet Netanyahu does include some references to the United Kingdom. The former Israeli Ambassador to the UK and aide to Netanyahu, Mark Regev, is depicted as a regular ‘Sir Humphrey’, Alex Ferguson is demoted from manager to ‘coach’ while Sara Netanyahu, a devotee of ‘The Crown’, told Prince William how much she identified with his mother. Peter Robinson: The other way around, okay, all right. So if it's true that the United States now find itself in something like the same strategic box that Israel has always been in, outnumbered, often outspent. You have to be smarter, you have to be innovative.

Peter Robinson: And faster. Does that, that in itself ought to create or could create some diplomatic, some greater scope for real cooperation between the two countries. Is that right? As he tells his life story, it is clear he never lost his focus on his dreams for his country. This despite the opposition he faced within his country, the biases of a hostile media, the constant and ultimately unproven accusations of corruption. All designed to take him down. Though each US Presidential Administration from President Truman on is discussed, the climax of the narrative comes in Chapter 54, fittingly titled “Never Again,” where Mr. Netanyahu gives his 2016 speech before the United States Congress in opposition to the Obama Administration’s disastrous Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. The Prime Minister provides excerpts in the text, but I recommend watching the entire speech for yourself. In this link, Mr. Netanyahu enters the chamber at 22:32, and begins speaking at 26:49 after a brief appearance on screen of his wife, Sara.

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But in unconventional scenes similar to those in countless books of reportage and Trump tell-alls, Netanyahu also says that to sway Trump from his desire to pursue peace between Israel and the Palestinians and to scotch his positive first impression of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, the Israelis deployed golfing metaphors and maps of New York City. Peter Robinson: Bibi, you're telling me that you wrote, you wrote this, this is not the product of a ghost writer. You wrote this book. Benjamin Netanyahu is the longest serving prime minister of the modern state of Israel. His autobiography helps explain why. Netanyahu writes: “I could see that the video registered with Trump, at least momentarily. ‘Wow,’ he said. ‘Is that the same guy I just met in Washington? He seemed like such a sweet, peaceful guy.’

Bob Menendez is alarmed. He is a Democrat, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee and a major supporter of Israel. He led the fight against the Iran nuclear deal. As so often in US politics, the red-blue divide is on display and Israel is there in the middle. Netanyahu castigates Clinton and Obama for purported messianism and naivety but says nothing of his own bad callsThe former and possibly future Israeli leader’s book, Bibi: My Story, will be published in the US on Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy. Based on the latest polls, he has a serious shot at re-election but is not quite there. A win could mean immunity from prosecution. That decision will rest with his coalition partners – if he wins.

And finally, comparing still-minor contemporary figures (i.e., Ben-Gvir and Smotrich) to a giant of a century ago is puerile and gratuitous; it lays bare Schindler’s preference for personal bloviation over serious analysis. He then proves his own narcissism in concluding Jabotinsky view of Bibi’s autobiography would comport with Schindler’s as his own “review provides at least part of the answer.” In his memoir, Netanyahu doubles down on his embrace of the Covid vaccine and regrets easing up too early on pandemic closures, in hindsight a “cardinal mistake”. Here, the divide between Netanyahu and the other members of the populist right could not be starker. For him, modernity matters. The book opens heroically with Netanyahu’s time in the Sayeret Matkal — Israel’s remarkable commando force that has defended Israelis and Jews against lethal forces. He is rightly proud of his service and his participation in the storming of the Sabena flight at Lod airport in 1972. The cabinet ministers were already busy munching away, passing dishes to one another. It reminded me of the Shabbat Breakfast Club in the synagogue in Hull, Massachusetts. Bibi Netanyahu: Yes, I think that's the interesting point, I think Peter. That they, people have understood that. That I think basically the socialist economic ethos is gone, and maybe that's something that I-Netanyahu says Ron Dermer, then Israeli ambassador to the US, was “flabbergasted. This was not, ‘Houston, we have a problem.’ This was, ‘Houston, we are the problem!” Mr President,’ I said, ‘would you let a regime that wants to annihilate you set up a state at the George Washington Bridge? Of course not. Neither would we.’

It was Israel, especially Netanyahu who worked to arrange the world’s first international conference on terrorism. Much of what came from that and later conferences helped the United States understand and take action against terrorists in countries that supported terrorist activity. If you can put politics aside (it seems that most people have either strong negative or positive feelings about Netanyahu), then you will benefit from reading this book. It describes economic miracles in moving Israel from a poorly functioning economy to one of the top 10 economies in the world. Other nations, regardless of their political beliefs, came to Netanyahu to learn how to develop their economies following the example of Israel. They increased their trade with each other to the extent that 4 Arab nations agreed to a peace treaty with Israel, realizing that peace was necessary for prosperity.Bibi Netanyahu: That innovation is critical. Israel's value to the United States is rising as our capacity to innovate and technologize is rising.