Israel's former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested in a Facebook video posted on Sunday that US President Joe Biden had fallen asleep when meeting the new Israeli leader Naftali Bennett last month.
Social media users shared a video clip of the US president that they said showed him looking down and nodding off as Bennett spoke in the Oval Office.
Biden was awake but his response was cropped from the video, leading viewers to think the President was having a 'senile' moment during his first meeting seeking to reset US-Israeli relations over Iran's nuclear advances.
Seconds after the clip was cut, longer footage showed Biden responded to Bennett.
In a video Netanyahu posted on his Facebook page on Sunday, an off-camera voice says: 'You know, Bennett met with Biden.'
'I heard. I heard that Biden was very attentive at this meeting. He dropped his head in agreement,' Netanyahu replied, letting his own head fall in a swift motion, as if to mimic someone falling asleep.
Israel's former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested in a Facebook video posted on Sunday that US President Joe Biden had fallen asleep when meeting the new Israeli leader Naftali Bennett last month
Social media users shared a video clip of the US president that they said showed him looking down and nodding off as Bennett spoke in the Oval Office
In a video Netanyahu posted on his Facebook page on Sunday, an off-camera voice says: 'You know, Bennett met with Biden.' 'I heard. I heard that Biden was very attentive at this meeting. He dropped his head in agreement,' Netanyahu says
The Likud, Netanyahu's party, came to his defense pointing out that the former prime minister was mocking Bennett not Biden.
'In contrast to the distorted picture that was broadcast in the media, former prime minister Netanyahu wasn't criticizing President Biden whom he's known and considered a friend of Israel for 40 years,'
'His criticism was aimed only at Naftali Bennett who, during his visit at the White House, spoke at length about nothing,' the official Twitter account for the party posted.
'His criticism was aimed only at Naftali Bennett who, during his visit at the White House, spoke at length about nothing,' the official Twitter account for The Likud posted
Netanyahu, 71, and head of the right-wing Likud party, was largely in lockstep with the Middle East policies of Democrat Biden's Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.
Netanyahu's reference to the Biden meeting was a brief segment in a nearly 26-minute video that touched on a variety of political issues. But it drew headlines on Israeli news websites, several of which accused Netanyahu of mocking Biden.
In June, a new government of left-wing, centrist, right-wing and Arab parties led by Bennett replaced Netanyahu's administration, ending the conservative politician's 12-year run as Israel's longest-serving leader.
Now in opposition, Netanyahu has promised to govern again.
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