Trump's own officials say he lied about drone strike in order to insult Israel: report

Former President Donald Trump inflated the role Israel played in the drone strike that eliminated Iran's top general, according to an NBC News report citing three U.S. officials who were privy to the mission.

"They were never on board with it," a former senior White House official told the network, referring to Israel and its participation in the slaying of Qasem Soleimani, purported to be the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force. "They always thought it was a dangerous and destabilizing idea.”

NBC News also spoke with an ex-Trump administration official who was involved in the preparation of the killing and said at the moment Trump had ordered the generals to commit the Soleimani strike, they took a collective deep breath.

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When the former president stood at a lectern before supporters at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday -- he took an especially tough stance against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of essentially cowering when being called upon to partner in the Jan. 3, 2020 drone strike that killed the military leader.

“Israel was going to do this with us, and it was being planned and working on it for months,” Trump said Wednesday. “We had everything all set to go, and the night before it happened, I got a call that Israel will not be participating in this attack.”

“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down,” Trump added, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
“That was a very terrible thing,” he said. “And then Bibi tried to take credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good.”

Trump's accusation against Israel has since been met by rounding criticism and even spiked by Israel's Communications Minister. "We don’t have to bother with him and the nonsense he spouts,” Shlomo Karhi said, adding that Trump cannot be relied on when it comes to Israel's security.

The chorus of ridicule has forced the 45th U.S. president to do some damage control.

"There is no better friend or ally of Israel than President Donald J. Trump," the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.