Netanyahu Downplays Relationship With Romney

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During the campaign, Mitt Romney has made light of the fact that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have a personal relationship that dates back to when they worked together at the Boston Consulting Group in the 1970s. But in an interview with TIME magazine, Netanyahu downplayed the extent of the relationship. 

From the TIME interview:

“We did not know each other that well. He was the whiz kid. I was just in the back of the room.” Netanyahu tells Stengel he has seen Romney only a handful of times over the years and only once this year. They spoke for 10 minutes in March during his visit to Washington, mainly about Iran. 

That’s not exactly how the relationship was characterized by the New York Times in April, when it described their “warm friendship” that included a “frank exchange of advice” over the years. The Times story doesn’t contradict Netanyahu, but it does play up the closeness more than the prime minister does.

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