Netanyahu used golf metaphor to turn Trump against Palestinians, book says

Benjamin Netanyahu used maps of Hezbollah missile sites and intelligence gained from a Mossad raid in Tehran to make sure Donald Trump backed Israel in Middle East peace talks and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, the former Israeli prime minister writes in a new memoir.

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.

Predictably, Netanyahu ticks off policy successes, among them US withdrawal from the Iran deal, the US embassy moving to Jerusalem and the US recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Netanyahu also describes the genesis and signing of the Abraham Accords, normalization deals signed by Israel and four Arab countries.

Netanyahu now reveals that he deployed further visual aids for Trump, who even so early in his presidency was known not to read briefing papers, to become bored easily and to prefer advice framed in reference to his own interests.

Netanyahu had more immediate success in shepherding Trump out of the Iranian nuclear deal, to which the US was a signatory in 2015, under Barack Obama.

On 5 March 2018, in the Oval Office in Washington, Netanyahu played Trump another short video, about what the Israelis said they found.

On 30 April, Netanyahu went public about the raid. In Israel, he faced criticism for divulging details of a Mossad operation. In his book, he denies any breach of secrecy and says he was only discussing results.

A week later, Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal.