The Slatest

Giuliani Wishes Benjamin Netanyahu Were America’s President Instead of Obama

Rudy Giuliani wouldn’t question Obama’s heart, unless he was questioning Obama’s heart.

Photo by Bryan Thomas/Getty Images

Rudy Giuliani attempted to explain remarks that were critical of President Barack Obama in a Wall Street Journal editorial over the weekend, even as Haaretz revealed on Monday that questioning Obama’s love of country might actually be a regular Giuliani talking point.

In a speech to the Iranian-American Community of Phoenix Arizona just three days before his comments at a private Scott Walker event that Obama doesn’t love America, Giuliani compared the president unfavorably to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and gave remarks that foreshadowed the quote that would land him in hot water.

Of Netanyahu, Giuliani said: “That is a patriot; that is a man who loves his people; that is a man who protects his people; that’s a man who fights for his people—unlike our president.”

In his WSJ op-ed on Sunday, Giuliani said that, aside from his “blunt” words at the Walker event that Obama didn’t love his country, he never meant to question what Obama had in his heart.

“Obviously, I cannot read President Obama’s mind or heart, and to the extent that my words suggested otherwise, it was not my intention,” Giuliani wrote.

Giuliani’s remarks about Obama and Netanyahu were made in reference to the criticism of the Israeli leader for accepting an invitation to speak about Iran’s nuclear program in front of Congress without informing the president first.

“And we are upset that Netanyahu wants to come here and defend his country?” Giuliani said. “If someone threatened to destroy New York City, I would go anywhere, any place, anytime, and I wouldn’t give a damn what the president of the United States thought, to defend my country.”