Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said past U.S. presidents worked against him in Israeli elections, in an interview with C14 English, the English-language channel of Israel’s Channel 14, released Oct. 19.

Asked about receiving the “complete and total endorsement of a sitting U.S. president,” Netanyahu said, “That’s a good historical precedent, except you’ve got it a bit off,” because “the other presidents didn’t declare it. They just did it.”

“Clinton called me in 1996 when I was first elected, and he said, ‘Congratulations, Bibi. You beat us. We tried everything to bring you down, and you beat us,'” Netanyahu said. “Other presidents, they didn’t say it, but they had their whole campaign staff come here to try to unseat me or to try to defeat me.”