PM Netanyahu on Lindsey Graham: He Believed That Israel’s Security and America’s Security Are Intertwined

RUSH EXCERPT:
NETANYAHU: "Well, he was – he was absolutely fearless. We spoke about it more than once, but he was fearless, as he should be. He’s a leader in public life and you have to take those risk, but I, frankly, hoped to have many more years of friendship with him and enjoyed just his indefaticable and hon esty. He was honest about his views. He said I stand with Israel openly, and I know the winds of fashion are blowing the other way, and I couldn’t careless. Sometimes he’D incorporate words I won’t repeat now. He was so clear, so courageous both for his own personal safety, but also for what he believed was absolutely necessary for America, and he believed that Israel’s security and America’s security are intertwined. It wasn’t just a spin or anything like that. It was something he held deeply for many decade, and I could see his contributions because he sometimes tried to out negotiate me. [Laughter] It’s just unbelievable. We had with three American presidents, President Clinton, President Obama and President Trump we had memorandums of understandings for support for Israel’s military, which by the way, I think we have time now to – we’ve come of age, and we are able to draw them down to zero, but he would argue with me. He would say no, you know, for ballistic missile defense it’s important for you, it’s important for America. Whatever it is the number, it has to be bigger. I said, Lindsey, we can do with a smaller number. He said no, you can’t. And then he would go to the Senate and can you imagine this? He would outbid the prime minister of Israel. He said I’m not getting a single vote in South Carolina for that because, you know, there are very few Jews in South Carolina and the people, yes, they support Israel. My constituency, but I support Israel, and I think you need more and I’m going to fight for this. This is who Lindsey Graham was. He went with his convictions and he was an amazingly able politician to be able to talk to people on the other side of the aisle, and he did that very often."