The former President gave an extensive interview supporting Israel’s war against Hamas and decrying the Biden administration for opposing it.
Israel National News, Mar 25, 2024
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Former US President Donald Trump expressed his support for the war in Gaza during an interview with Israel Hayom.
“What I saw October 7 was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen. You have to finish up your war, and I am sure you will do that. You have to get the job done to get on to a normal life for Israel, and for everybody else,” the former president stated.
He also agreed with Israel’s course of action. “I would act very much the same way as you did. You would have to be crazy not to. Only a fool would not do that. That was a horrible attack.”
He echoed concerns from several other parties that Israel has not sufficiently emphasized public diplomacy since the beginning of the war. “I think Israel made a very big mistake. The world is seeing this, and that’s a bad image. I think that’s one of the reasons that there has been a lot of kickback. ”
Trump also reviewed his actions against Iran, which backs Hamas. “I said to many nations, ‘If you buy oil from Iran, you will not do any business in the United States, and we’re going to tariff your products. Every single one of them agreed.”
Trump said it would be presumptuous of him to advise Israel on its strategy against Iran, with one key exception. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to tell you, but I don’t think you can allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
He did have one important piece of advice for Israel: “Remember this, Biden is not a friend of Israel. If Biden was a friend of Israel, October 7 would have never happened.”
He also denounced relatives of Vice President Harris for raising money for the UNRWA. “How could a Jewish person vote for Kamala Harris? She supports the enemy.”
Trump also responded to the calls by Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer for elections in Israel. “I think it’s a terrible thing to do, because it takes all of your momentum away, because it shows great division in the United States. Fifteen years ago, that would have been unthinkable.”
He also blamed the war as a whole on the Democratic administration. “It was an attack that I blame on Biden because they have no respect for him. They saw him as a weak, ineffective president, they would have never done that attack if I were there.”
Trump speculated on the possibility of another visit to Israel: “I’m not Jewish, and yet Israel for me is very important. I would be glad to visit. In Israel, I get 98% of the vote.”
@Laura
I disagree with this. Decisive victory implies a short timetable, and if the victory is not decisive, as would the consequence of a delayed timetable, it will be a Pyrrhic victory at best. The need of a decisive victory is to project Israeli strength and ability to deter such outrages being pressed on Israel in series or parallel attacks in the future. The reversal of Yom Kippur war provided such a decisive victory as well as the long quiet which followed that war.
Also, there is an adage in medicine that time is trauma, and this truism is even more greatly demonstrated in war than in surgery. As any war lingers on, the casualties will mount and the promise as well as the character of victory will be changed, and neither for the better.
For all of these reasons, as well as the propaganda war which Israel has only mastered the art of failure over the years, the timetable must be kept short. The fruits of securing such a quickly won and decisive victory will be to regain security deterrence which was lost on October 7. This is how peace thru strength is achieved, by demonstrating strength so that peace can follow, but even if the peace never were to materialize, Israel’s demonstrated strength will secure Israel’s future, and only the Biden demanded surrender or a prolonged time table for the war will prevent Israel from regaining her former position of of unassailable strength in the region. Or so I would argue.
It ends when hamas is eliminated. There can’t be a timetable. Israel never had support to lose in the first place.
He may have a point but then again, the global media is going to show pictures of bombed out buildings anyway without context. Israel at least has to prove these are places where hamas is hiding and firing rockets from and where they are storing weapons. I don’t think there’s anything Israel could do that would get them support. Most of the world already had its mind made up. Israel was turned into the villain almost immediately, weeks before it entered Gaza.
@Laura
He is referencing the release of videos of the buildings being bombed with people inside. As he stated, do what you have to do but don’t do that, ie release the videos to be played on the nightly news. If you read the full context of what is contained in the interview as transcribed by Peg Tierney (which is not included in the video released on the Israel Hayom site), I think this is clearly what he is referencing, not that Israel has not been emphasizing diplomacy as is claimed by the above Arutz article. Let me know if you agree.
By the way, I deleted my previous comment to you on this subject because I realized that the interview was not entirely included in the video posted on Israel Hayom’s site.
What does he mean by this? What’s a bad image?
I’m glad he’s speaking out. Whatever misgivings I had previously including considering a third party or a write-in vote, are now out the window. I will be voting for Trump. In the interim, however, we can hope that God intervenes and somehow makes Speaker Johnson president until the election.