The former president said Israel made a ‘big mistake’ by broadcasting images and videos of the destruction in Gaza
March 25, 2024
Former President Trump said in an interview with Israel Hayom over the weekend that Israel made a “big mistake” by broadcasting images and videos of the destruction in the Gaza Strip, saying it’s losing Israel “a lot of support.”
Trump said he would have done the same thing as Israel in response to the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel but said it was time to “finish your war” as global opinion is turning on Israel.
“You gotta get it done. And, I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on. And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support, you have to finish up, you have to get the job done,” Trump said.
When asked by the interviewer about how he would respond to the “wave of anti-Semitism” since October 7, Trump replied, “Well, that’s because you fought back. And I think Israel made a very big mistake. I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it. These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza. And I said, oh, that’s a terrible portrait. It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people,” Trump said.
The interviewer then claimed that “terrorists” were hiding in the buildings. Trump replied, “Go and do what you have to do. But you don’t do that. And I think that’s one of the reasons that there has been a lot of kickback. If people didn’t see that, every single night I’ve watched every single one of those. And I think Israel wanted to show that it’s tough, but sometimes you shouldn’t be doing that.”
Trump also took shots at Democrats for the growing criticism of Israel from within the party. “Some 15 years ago, Israel had the strongest lobby. If you were a politician, you couldn’t say anything bad about Israel, that would be like the end of your political career. Today, it’s almost the opposite. I’ve never seen you have AOC plus three, these lunatics, frankly. But you have AOC plus three plus plenty of others. And all they do is talk badly about Israel, and they hate Israel, and they hate the Jewish people,” he said.
Trump said the Hamas attack on Israel wouldn’t have happened if he was still president, something he has repeatedly claimed in recent interviews. “It was an attack that I blame on Biden because they [Hamas] have no respect for him. He can’t put two sentences together. He can’t talk. He’s a very dumb person,” he said.
During his time in office, Trump was extremely pro-Israel and carried out policies to support Israeli claims to occupied land, which all played a role in escalating tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. His administration recognized the Golan Heights as Israeli territory and declared that illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank do not violate international law.
Trump’s administration moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and unveiled a so-called “peace plan” that would have seen Israel annex large swathes of the West Bank. Trump also brokered the Abraham Accords, deals that resulted in Israel normalizing ties with the UAE and Bahrain. Jared Kushner, who was Trump’s point man on Israel, recently said Gaza’s “waterfront property could be very valuable.”
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