Netanyahu Honors Limbaugh in Condolence Message

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu posted a condolence message following the death of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

“I send my heartfelt condolences to the family of Rush Limbaugh,” Netanyahu wrote in his official Tweeter account.

Netanyahu added: “He was a great friend of Israel and he stood by us through thick and thin, always firm, never wavering. We shall miss him dearly,” Netanyahu said.

Although Limbaugh was mostly engaged with domestic issues in the U.S., he spoke up for Israel as well.

In 2001, he urged the George W. Bush administration to allow Israel to defend itself against its enemies.

“Bush is right about ‘defeating’ the Taliban, al Qaeda and other terrorist networks,” Limbaugh said at the time. “It is, therefore, necessary that in the pursuit of real and lasting peace, Israel also be free to destroy its enemies — meaning the terrorists and, yes, their sponsors, who are at war with her, and that she do so before they obtain devastating weapons of mass destruction.”

As such, Limbaugh influenced other conservative commentators to do the same, noted writer Zev Chafets, who wrote a book about him in 2010.