‘Dangerous and unhinged’ – Trump blunders into conflict, praises ‘smart’ terrorists
Israel and the White House have condemned remarks by Donald Trump in which he praised the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah and criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over an attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed more than 1300 people in Israel.
Trump, who is the frontrunner to become the party’s 2024 presidential nominee, called the Lebanese Hezbollah, a sworn enemy of Israel, “very smart” and accused Netanyahu of being “not prepared” for the Hamas attack, which also killed 22 Americans.
Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi on Thursday said Trump’s comments to supporters and in a television interview on Wednesday night showed he could not be relied on.
It is “shameful that a man like that, a former US president, abets propaganda and disseminates things that wound the spirit of Israel’s fighters and its citizens,” Karhi told Israel’s Channel 13.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates called Trump’s comments “dangerous and unhinged”.
“It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organisation as ‘smart’,” Bates said.
Democratic President Joe Biden has condemned the Hamas attack as “an act of sheer evil” and declared his unwavering support for Israel.
“This is a time for all of us to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel against ‘unadulterated evil,’” Bates said on Thursday.
“That’s what the president is doing.”
On Thursday evening, Trump released a statement, saying there had been “no better friend or ally of Israel” than when he was president.
Several of Trump’s opponents in the Republican contest also criticised the former president.
“It is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as ‘very smart’,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wrote on X.
Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence, another 2024 rival, said in New Hampshire: “This is no time for any former president or any other American leader to be sending any message other than America stands with Israel.”
Asa Hutchinson, a former Arkansas governor and a Republican 2024 candidate, said on X that Trump was “out of his mind if he thinks that any candidate for President of the United States should praise the terrorists attacking one of our most important allies.”
Trump and Netanyahu had a close relationship during Trump’s time as president, though cracks have appeared in their once ironclad rapport.
Trump was annoyed when Netanyahu called to congratulate Biden on winning the 2020 presidential election, an election Trump still falsely calls fraudulent.
