[1/2]Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump looks on at the Club 47 USA event in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. on October 11, 2023.Reuters/Marco Bello/File Photo Obtaining license rights
Oct 11 (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unprepared for a weekend attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed at least 1,200 people in Israel. criticized.
Trump, a front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said in an interview on Fox News that Prime Minister Netanyahu was “very, very hurt” by the attack.
“He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready, Israel wasn’t ready. And under the Trump administration, they shouldn’t have had to.”
President Trump’s comments come as Israel is still containing the dead and reeling from one of the most devastating attacks in history. It retaliated with airstrikes on Gaza, killing at least 1,200 Palestinians.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, one of Trump’s opponents in the Republican election, criticized former President Trump over this comment.
“It is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for president, would choose to attack our friend and ally Israel right now,” DeSantis wrote on social media.
President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu had a close relationship during Trump’s presidency, but cracks have appeared in their once ironclad relationship.
President Trump again commented on Israel’s security response to supporters in Florida on Wednesday night, pointing out “some of the things that went wrong last week.”
Trump added: “They’re fighting potentially a very large force, potentially fighting Iran, so we’ve got to get things right.”
Reporting by Nathan Layne and Rami Ayyub.Edit: Rincon Feast
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