Former US President Donald Trump is reported to have launched into an expletive-laden tirade against ex-Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for congratulating Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 election. Trump slammed his former close ally for disloyalty, saying he hadn’t spoken to Netanyahu after a video showed him congratulate Biden. “Nobody did more for Bibi. And I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi,” Trump was quoted as saying in interviews for a book by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid. “But I also like loyalty… Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible mistake,” he said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. The remarks were published by the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

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Netanyahu congratulated Biden more than 12 hours after the election had been called, without refering to him as president-elect. He followed it up with a tweet praising Trump.

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Trump seemed particularly outraged over a video released by Netanyahu on January 20 on Biden’s inauguration day, in which the Israeli leader said he and Biden had a “warm personal friendship going back many decades.”

“I haven’t spoken to him since. F—- him,” Trump was quoted as saying.

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Netanyahu was replaced as prime minister last summer. The Trump administration’s unprecedented steps to support Israel included dropping objections to settlements in the occupied West Bank and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump said his decision to recognize Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights helped Netanyahu in the April 2019 elections.

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“I did it right before the election, which helped him (Netanyahu) a lot,” Trump said.

The Trump administration also withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, to which Israel had been strongly opposed.

“I’ll tell you what — had I not come along I think Israel was going to be destroyed,” Trump said. “I think Israel would have been destroyed maybe by now.”