In the first few days following Hamas’s attack on civilians in Israel, which left at least 1,200 people dead, Donald Trump didn’t seem eager to discuss the horrific situation dominating political discourse worldwide. During his meandering remarks at a Monday campaign event in New Hampshire, Trump lobbed criticism at The Wall Street Journal editorial page, windmills, and the New England Patriots. When he finally got around to his scripted comments on the attack, he predictably blamed President Joe Biden for “tossing Israel to the bloodthirsty terrorists.” Politico said Trump’s speech “suggested he had scant organic interest in the events in Israel and saw little upside in making it part of the primary.”
But now, Trump suddenly has a lot more to say about Israel since he has realized the attack was actually all about the primary topic he does have an organic interest in: himself. During a campaign rally in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, Trump tied the attack to his “stolen” 2020 election lies, aired his personal grievances against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and repeatedly called the Lebanon-based militant organization Hezbollah, which has been clashing with the Israeli Army this week, “very smart.”
Trump regularly (and nonsensically) claims that various unfortunate situations would never have happened on his watch, so it’s no surprise this was his primary take. But he gave the argument a particularly unhinged spin in his Wednesday remarks, explicitly linking the attack to his conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
“If the election wasn’t rigged,” he said, “there would be nobody even thinking about going into Israel.”
Trump’s criticism of Netanyahu is a bit more surprising as the two were close allies throughout his time in the White House and Trump insists he’s the most pro-Israel president ever. But in the final weeks of his administration, Trump turned his back on Netanyahu. (He actually told a journalist, “Fuck him.”) The Israeli leader’s crime: publicly congratulating President-elect Biden on his win.
While there are certainly many legitimate reasons to criticize Netanyahu at the moment, Trump instead focused on personal gripes. During the speech, he told a story he claimed he had never told before about the U.S. operation to assassinate Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in 2020. (“They’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s classified information.’ Well, maybe it is, but I don’t think so,” he mused aloud.) Trump said Israel had been collaborating with the U.S. on the plan for the operation but pulled out at the last minute.
“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing,” Trump said. “So we were disappointed by that. Very disappointed. But we did the job ourself. It was absolute precision, magnificent, beautiful job. And then Bibi tried to take credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good. But that’s all right.”
While Trump’s story focused more on Netanyahu’s alleged slights, he tucked in some criticism of Israeli intelligence, too, saying, “They’ve got to straighten it out.” Then he branded Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant a “jerk” for warning Hezbollah not to attack Israel in the north and repeatedly called the terrorist group “very smart,” even as he noted that doing so would probably get him in trouble.
Indeed, Trump’s remarks were not well received in the press, and his biggest political rivals also seized on them. Governor Ron DeSantis, who recently decided to start attacking Trump now that he’s trailing him by 40 points in GOP primary polls, posted a video of Trump’s speech on X with this caption:
Terrorists have murdered at least 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans and are holding more hostage, so it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as “very smart.”
As President, I will stand with Israel and treat terrorists like the scum that they are.
And while Biden has yet to respond directly, White House spokesman Andrew Bates condemned Trump, saying, “Statements like this are dangerous and unhinged. It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as ‘smart.’”
Trump’s remarks do make sense once you realize he’s a narcissist devoid of empathy who can’t help but praise the side he thinks is “winning.” But yes, it still is kind of shocking that a person like that was president and has a good shot at being reelected.
More on the israel-hamas war
- A Year After October 7, Israelis Ask, ‘Where Is the State?’
- ‘It’s Really Hard to Hold On in This Reality’
- How Israelis Are Feeling One Year After October 7
