‘I love Israel,’ professes Trump in speech to Republican Jewish Coalition

Former US president Donald Trump opens his speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s conference by declaring, “I love Israel. I love Israel.”

Trump came under fire earlier this month for comments he made at a campaign event criticizing Israel over the intelligence failure that led to the October 7 Hamas onslaught, calling Defense Minister Yoav Gallant a “jerk” and the Hezbollah terror group “very smart.”

Trump made the remarks while recalling his administration’s 2020 assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force. Trump reiterated his claim that Netanyahu backed out at the last minute from actively taking part in the killing.

“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing. We were very disappointed, but we did the job ourselves, and it was absolute precision, magnificent, beautiful job,” he said at the time. “Then Bibi tried to take credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good. But that’s all right.”

While Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi told Israel’s Channel 13 that 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.”