Trump slams Israel days after Hamas attacks: ‘I’ll never forget Bibi let us down’
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives for a rally on October 07, 2023 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday sharply criticized Israel days after Hamas attacks left at least 1,200 people dead, saying Israel needs to “straighten it out” following the Hamas attacks.
“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing, I’ll say that,” Trump told a campaign rally when reflecting on Israel’s role in the January 2020 assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps General Qassem Soleimani.
“So when I see sometimes the intelligence — you talk about the intelligence, you talk about the things that went wrong over the last week — they’ve got to straighten it out, because they’re fighting potentially a very big force,” he continued.
“They’re fighting potentially Iran, and when they have people saying the wrong things, everything’s being digested by these people because they’re vicious and they’re smart,” Trump added.
A day after Biden’s Israel speech, Trump — the GOP frontrunner for president — blasts Israel for lack of intelligence re: Hamas attack and says I'll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down,” on Soleimani mission. “That was a very terrible thing.” pic.twitter.com/ULAVJe31O1
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) October 12, 2023
Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley previously warned Netanyahu against pushing Trump to strike Iran in the waning days of his presidency, warning the Israeli prime minister that he was going to “start a fucking war.”
Referring to Israel’s participation and Netanyahu’s posture regarding the incident, Trump said “We were disappointed by that, very disappointed,” then laughed while adding “then Bibi tried taking credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good.”
When speaking about Hamas’ invasion into Israel Trump said: “If the election wasn’t rigged, there would be nobody even thinking about going into Israel.”
Trump also accused “very smart” Hezbollah of deciding to attack Israel from the Lebanon border because U.S. President Joe Biden told them not to do so.
Trump later gave an interview with Fox News saying “[Netanyahu] has been hurt very badly because of what’s happened here. He was not prepared. He was not prepared and Israel was not prepared — and under Trump, they wouldn’t have had to be prepared.”
Trump’s comments come nearly one month after posting an ominous warning to American Jews, retreading in his well-worn territory of dual loyalty tropes and conflating support for Israel with American Jews.
He has frequently targeted Jewish Americans for not voting for him, including imploring them to “get their act together before it’s too late,” earning widespread condemnations for “Jewsplaining.”
He has also repeatedly used his self-proclaimed unprecedented support for Israel as a deflection against accusations of antisemitism, all while invoking dual loyalty tropes and deeming Jews who vote for Democrats as “very disloyal” to Israel. Trump’s opinions of American Jews, however, have deteriorated into stereotypes for decades – touching on tropes of wealth, power and status.
A poll earlier this summer showed 72 percent of Jewish voters prefer U.S. President Joe Biden over Trump, with 80 percent holding unfavorable views of Trump. Orthodox Jews, however, prefer Trump by a 76-13 percent difference. A Haaretz review of Jewish Republican donations over the first several months of the 2024 Republican presidential primary campaign revealed that a notable number of pro-Trump donors will clearly back the former president no matter what as he faces a series of indictments, Jewish donors appear divided on who represents the best alternative to the former president, with several hedging bets by donating to several candidates.
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