“They’re releasing the most heinous, horrifying tapes of buildings collapsing,” Trump said. “And people imagine that there are a lot of people inside those buildings…and they don’t like it. And I don’t know why they released photos like that during wartime. Hmm…to me, that doesn’t make them look tough.
President Trump said his advice to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to “finish things” and “get back to normal.”
“I don’t know if I like the way they’re doing it. … We have to win, but it’s going to take a long time,” he continued.
In recent weeks, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has found himself increasingly at odds with the party’s de facto position of unwavering loyalty to Israel.
Last month, in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, President Trump similarly urged Israel to “end the war” and said, “Israel needs to be very careful because… it’s losing a lot of support.” body,” he said.
At the same time, President Trump criticized Biden’s handling of the conflict. During his interview with Hewitt, Trump criticized Biden for his handling of the Israeli war, saying, “The whole world is in turmoil because of this stupid president.” The former president also reiterated his claim that “October 7 would never have happened” if he were president, but he was clear about what changes he would make regarding the war if re-elected. I didn’t mention it.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress have been pushing Netanyahu and the Jewish state, especially since Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D.N.Y.), the highest-ranking American Jewish official and a staunch ally of Israel are rallying in support of. , took to the Senate floor last month and called on Israel to hold new elections to replace Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has criticized Schumer’s comments, said last month that “bipartisan support for Israel appears to be driving a rift on the political left in this country.” Stated. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said he wanted Netanyahu to address Congress and called Schumer’s comments “highly inappropriate.” He also said it was “clearly wrong for American leaders to play such a divisive role.”
After Schumer called for new elections in Israel, Netanyahu briefed Senate Republicans on the state of the war and criticized Schumer, but several Republicans strongly disagreed with the majority leader’s criticism. This reassured him.
Mr. Trump has made support for Israel a pillar of his presidency, including the 2020 Abraham Accords, a series of treaties negotiated during his administration that normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. I mediated.
But since leaving office, he has been harshly critical of Netanyahu, once one of his biggest allies.
According to a 2021 interview about Middle East peace efforts, he was furious with Prime Minister Netanyahu for congratulating President Biden on his 2020 election victory while President Trump disputed the results. President Trump said the call was a betrayal of the relationship between the two countries and all the efforts he has made to help Israel during his presidency.
President Trump has also criticized Israel’s approach to the war since it began nearly six months ago. Just days after the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, President Trump said at a rally that Prime Minister Netanyahu “was not ready and neither was Israel.” He also called Hezbollah’s terrorist attackers “very smart” and said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “let us down” ahead of the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020. Stated.
Republican presidential candidates who were still in the primary election at the time, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, condemned Trump’s comments.
Meanwhile, Biden continues to face pressure from members of his own party concerned about the escalating humanitarian crisis. and is calling on the administration to cut off U.S. military aid to Israel. Tensions have been high since an Israeli airstrike killed seven humanitarian aid workers this week.
On Thursday, in his first phone call with Prime Minister Netanyahu since the attack, Biden advocated for an “immediate ceasefire” and “implemented a series of concrete, specific and measurable steps for Israel to address civilian damage.” “We made clear the need to protect humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers,” the White House summary of the call said.
The White House said in its summary that U.S. policy on Gaza “will depend on an assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these measures.”
