Former President Donald Trump blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack that killed about 1,200 people “should never have happened.”
In a wide-ranging interview with Time magazine published Tuesday, the 45th president said he believed the attacks on southern Israel were having a “significant impact” on Prime Minister Netanyahu, 74. .
“They have the most sophisticated equipment,” said Trump, 77, of the Israeli security forces. “They did everything to stop it. And a lot of people knew about it, thousands and thousands of people knew about it, but Israel I didn’t know, and I think he’s very strongly condemned and blamed for that.”
“I say this,” he added. “Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has rightly been criticized for what happened on October 7th.”
Trump’s relationship with Bibi, the likely Republican nominee, dates back to January 2020, when Israel withdrew from the operation to kill top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, as Trump claims.
“That was going to be a joint.” [attack] And all of a sudden we were told that Israel wasn’t doing it,” he told Time magazine. “And I wasn’t happy about it. It was something I’ll never forget. And it showed me something.”
Former White House senior adviser and eldest son-in-law Jared Kushner asked in his 2022 memoir about President Trump’s support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rival Benny Gantz in Israel’s March 2020 election. said.
When asked if he thought he would work better with Gantz than Prime Minister Netanyahu, Trump said, “I think Benny Gantz would be better, but I’m not prepared to say that,” according to Time magazine. I haven’t talked to him about it. But there are some very good people I met in Israel who will do a good job. ”
Gantz, currently an unemployed minister in Netanyahu’s wartime cabinet, served as acting prime minister for 13 months after the inconclusive Knesset vote in March 2020.
President Trump was very friendly with Prime Minister Netanyahu during his administration, and was instrumental in helping the United States recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and brokering the Abraham Accords, in which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan normalized relations with Israel. I was supervising.
However, the 45th president has also complained about Prime Minister Netanyahu.please let me down” acknowledged Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Earlier this month, President Trump tweeted that Israel was “losing the PR war” and worried about the harrowing footage coming out of the Gaza Strip amid the brutal conflict.
President Trump is not alone in his dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
“I told him, ‘Bibi,’ please don’t repeat this. But… [I said] “You and I are going to come to Jesus –” President Biden said in a heated microphone moment during his State of the Union address in March.
Mr. Biden, 81, and Prime Minister Netanyahu have had a series of heated exchanges throughout the Israel-Hamas war, with the president over the lack of aid to the Palestinians and plans to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah without a firm plan. expressing concern. It is set up for civilians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday that Israel would press ahead with its push into Rafah, regardless of whether it reaches an agreement with Hamas to release dozens of hostages held by jihadists since October 7.
