The President says Israel would not exist without him.

Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948. You can look it up. The paperwork is not in dispute. It predates the current President by decades, predates his political career by longer, and has, until this week, never been credited to him personally.

That changed on Tuesday.

Standing at the G7 in France, beside the emir of Qatar, the President offered a correction to the historical record. “Without the United States, there would be no Israel,” he said. “Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did.”

The math.

Set aside the United States part, which at least has a few decades of foreign policy behind it. The interesting clause is the second one. Without me. A nation that held its first election before the President was old enough to vote now exists, we are told, on his account. Every prime minister, every war, every treaty since 1948 was apparently a placeholder, waiting for the right man to authorize the whole thing in hindsight.

This is the kind of claim that does not survive contact with a calendar.

The audience.

He said it next to another head of state, on camera, at a summit built specifically for other countries to watch. There was no aide stepping in, no clarifying statement, no “what he meant was.” The remark was allowed to stand, which at these events counts as a position.

It was also aimed, the reporting notes, at the Israeli prime minister, whom the President was warning to be “more responsible.” It is a curious way to scold an ally. You remind him that his entire country is a personal favor.

The record.

I have read a lot of official statements. Most of them shade the truth a little. Very few of them try to annex an entire nation’s founding. That founding happened. It is dated, documented, and witnessed by people who are not him.

The President is welcome to his role in current events. History, for now, is still keeping its own books.