(OPINION) In a wide-ranging interview, former United States president and current Republican contender Donald Trump expressed pointed criticism for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and for Israel’s war leadership while pledging to “protect Israel” if reelected in November.
October 7 “happened on his watch,” Trump told Time magazine of Netanyahu, adding that the prime minister has “rightfully been criticized” for failing to prevent the massive Hamas attack.
“They have the most sophisticated equipment,” Trump said of Israel. “They had — everything was there to stop that. And a lot of people knew about it, you know, thousands and thousands of people knew about it, but Israel didn’t know about it, and I think he’s being blamed for that very strongly, being blamed.”
The attack “should have never happened,” said Trump.
The former US president has been critical of Israel and Netanyahu since he left office, including in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre.
At an October rally, Trump hailed the Hezbollah terror group as “very smart,” while branding Defense Minister Yoav Gallant a “jerk.” He also told the crowd in Florida that Netanyahu had “let us down” before the US killed a top Iranian general, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Qassam Soleimani, in a January 2020 airstrike.
The comments drew widespread condemnation from the White House and Trump’s GOP rivals, and he eventually walked them back.
While Trump and Netanyahu worked together closely during the former’s presidency, Trump responded with fury after the prime minister congratulated then-president-elect Biden for winning the 2020 US election while Trump was still trying to overturn the results.
In interviews for a book about his Middle East peace efforts, Trump, according to its author, used an expletive to describe the embattled prime minister — “F**k him,” he reportedly said — and accused Netanyahu of disloyalty.
